Dumfries businesswoman sentenced for employment tax crimes

Date: June 27, 2024

Contact: [email protected]

Alexandria, VA - A Dumfries woman was sentenced today to one year and three months in prison and payment of $950,100.18 in restitution of for not paying employment taxes to the IRS.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Gail Jones was a co-owner who also served as director, vice president and president of S&G Property Management Inc. (S&G), a parcel delivery service. Between 2013 and 2018, Jones caused income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes to be withheld from S&G's employees. However, Jones did not pay those withholdings to the IRS as she was required to do. Moreover, to thwart potential IRS levies and other collection activities, Jones opened new bank accounts using other individuals' Social Security numbers, as well as new employer identification numbers, and variations of her business' name. Between December 2016 and December 2018, she withdrew over $450,000 in cash from business bank accounts in lieu of paying the taxes owed.

In total, Jones caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $950,000.

Additionally, Jones fraudulently applied for two Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, which were part of a COVID-19 relief program intended to provide loans to certain businesses to help them retain their employees or stay afloat during the pandemic. Jones applied for the loans even though S&G was no longer operating. She fraudulently received $20,800 in loans.

Jessica D. Aber, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Stuart M. Goldberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Tax Division, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Shartar for the Eastern District of Virginia and Trial Attorney Marissa Brodney of the Justice Department's Tax Division prosecuted the case.

CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.