LAKE COUNTY, Fla. – Acting United States Attorney Sara C. Sweeney announced that Dorian Farmer, a business owner from Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida (Lake County), has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to tax evasion and embezzlement of employee trust fund taxes. Farmer pleaded guilty to one count of failure to pay employment trust fund taxes and two counts of willfully failing to file tax returns.
According to court documents, Farmer owned several businesses in Howey-in-the-Hills. Over a period of years, he collected employment trust fund taxes from his employees’ wages. These taxes, which are designated for programs like Social Security and Medicare, were not remitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Instead, Farmer embezzled the funds for his personal use.
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In addition to withholding and misappropriating employee taxes, Farmer took large, unreported cash distributions from one of his businesses. He also failed to file tax returns for himself and one of his businesses, Titleist Technologies, Inc. (doing business as Summit Joint Performance), for the tax year 2000, as required by federal law.
Farmer’s actions resulted in a total tax loss of $806,653.
He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the employment trust fund offense and up to one year of imprisonment for each of the willful failure to file tax return offenses. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
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The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Assistant United States Attorney William S. Hamilton is prosecuting the case. The guilty plea underscores the serious consequences of tax evasion and the misuse of employee trust funds.
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