
(FeaturedHeadlines.com) A former IRS employee is facing criminal charges for stealing at least $2 million from the tax watchdog, which was supposed to be paid to the oil giant ExxonMobil in tax credits.
According to the US Justice Department, 46-year-old Rodney Quinn Rupe is facing multiple charges, including theft against the government, mail fraud and wire fraud.
Rupe allegedly started orchestrating the hidden scheme in July 2021 and used the money belonging to the government and Exxonmobil for his personal purposes.
Being an employee in the accounts department of the IRS in Utah, Rupe had access to multiple databases of the IRS, the manipulation of which allowed him to launch a criminal scheme. He was allegedly able to change the content of the databases that included tax credits, interests, and penalties of different organizations.
In July 2021, Rupe assigned an Employee Identification Number (EIN) to his company Ex Xo Exteriors Ltd, and diverted the tax credits of almost $2.1 million actually belonging to ExxonMobile to his own firm, the DOJ said.
In 2023, he allegedly transferred the diverted credits from one year to another before applying them to his own company account, which resulted in the IRS issuing his firm a massive payout in the form of a treasury check. Earlier this year, he attempted to deposit the check at different America First Credit Union branches.
He is scheduled to be presented in front of the court on July 3.
The spokesperson of the ExxonMobile and the IRS have refused to comment on the matter.
The US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), which investigated the whole scheme, has also stated that the TIGTA does not comment on the trials that are still ongoing.
Being one of the nation’s largest oil corporations, ExxonMobil is known for paying high income taxes. In 2023 alone, the oil giant paid $15.429 billion in taxes, which was 23.53% less than their taxes in 2022.
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