Utahn who worked for IRS charged in federal court with trying to steal $2M
Jun 15, 2024, 7:15 PM | Updated: 8:16 pm
A former Internal Revenue Service employee who lives in Utah was charged in federal court with abusing his position to attempt to steal more than $2 million in tax credits. (Mark Wetzel, Deseret News)
(Mark Wetzel, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — A former Internal Revenue Service employee who lives in Utah was charged in federal court with abusing his position to attempt to steal more than $2 million in tax credits.
Rodney Quinn Rupe, 46, of Syracuse, devised a “scheme,” from July 2021 to March this year, where he would fraudulently obtain money from the IRS and Exxon Mobil Corporation then divert the money for his personal use, prosecutors allege in the indictment.
Rupe is a former IRS account management employee and had access to some taxpayer accounts and case processing tools on an IRS computer database, giving him the ability to adjust tax, credits, penalties and interest for some accounts, the indictment states.
Prosecutors say he “abused” this access by diverting tax credits owed to Exxon Mobil to an entity he created and controlled called Ex Xo Exteriors Ltd.
“After diverting the tax credits in the IRS database owed to Exxon Mobil, Rupe then transferred the diverted tax funds from one tax year to another, which resulted in a refund in the form of a United States Treasury check in the amount of $2,100,377.38,” a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The refund was composed of diverted tax credits and interest owed to ExxonMobil, the indictment states. After receiving the refund in January, Rupe tried multiple times to deposit the U.S. Treasury check at multiple America First Credit Union locations, according to prosecutors.
Rupe was indicted on charges of wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and theft of government property. His initial appearance in court is scheduled for July 3 in Salt Lake City.
