Two Florida residents were sentenced today to three years and a year and a day in prison, respectively, for conspiring to defraud the United States by not paying employment taxes to the IRS.
According to court documents and statements made in court, William Skaggs Jr. owned and operated Nastar Roofing, a roofing company that worked throughout the Ft. Myers area. Billie Adkison was the business’ main office administrator, whose duties included managing payroll.
Between 2013 and 2023, Nastar employees – including Skaggs, Adkinson, and others acting at their direction – withdrew over $21 million from the company’s bank accounts to pay employees predominantly in cash without withholding Social Security, Medicare, and federal income taxes from those wages. They did this to escape paying employment taxes they knew were legally required.
At times, Nastar used a payroll provider to issue employees nominal paychecks, but Nastar did not inform the payroll company about the cash wages. As such, when the payroll company filed employment tax returns with the IRS, the forms were false because they did not report the cash wages. Similarly, when Nastar did not use a payroll provider and filed its own employment tax returns, it did not report the substantial cash wages paid to employees. Both Skaggs and Adkison signed some of these tax returns, knowing that they were false.
In total, Skaggs and Adkison caused a tax loss to the IRS of nearly $2.5 million.
In addition to their prison sentences, U.S. District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell for the Middle District of Florida ordered Skaggs and Adkison to serve three years of supervised release. The court will determine restitution at a later date.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karen E. Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney for the Middle District of Florida made the announcement.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Kevin Schneider of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Leeman and Benjamin Winter for the Middle District of Florida prosecuted the case.