Oregon Man Jailed for Defrauding the IRS of More Than $44 Million
A man from Tualatin earned more than $4 million in under-the-counter transactions that robbed the IRS of more than $44 million in payroll income tax, according to a news release by the Oregon U.S. Attorney’s Office.
David Katz (48) was yesterday sentenced to four years in federal prison and three years’ supervised release for conspiracy to defraud the United States and falsifying currency transactions. Katz was also ordered to pay $44,877,254 in restitution to the IRS.
Under-the-Counter Payroll Payments to Avoid Tax
According to trial testimony and court documents, Katz conspired with people in the construction industry to defraud the United States as a facilitator of under-the-counter payments to construction workers.
The payments took place from January 2014 to December 2017, when Katz was the president of Check Cash Pacific Inc.
Sham construction companies were created and used as conduits for cash transactions amounting to more than $177 million in payroll checks at various Check Cash Pacific locations. The under-the-counter payments to construction workers were not declared to the IRS.
Katz was notified when to bring checks into one of his Check Cash Pacific locations, where hundreds of thousands of payroll checks were cashed daily.
According to court records, Katz was aware of at least one co-conspirator using a false name and social security number. As a compliance officer, Katz allowed hundreds of false regulatory reports to be filed while aware they contained a false identity.
Katz received a 2% commission for every transaction that totaled more than $4 million.
A federal grand jury in Portland issued a five-count indictment against Katz, accusing him of conspiracy to defraud the United States and four instances of submitting false currency transaction reports to FinCEN in December 2021, and in June 2024, a federal jury in Portland found Katz guilty on all charges.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Robert S. Trisotto and Andrew T. Ho, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the District of Oregon.