PORTLAND, Maine — A Brunswick man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Tuesday to federal mail fraud and tax evasion charges.
Matthew LaForge, 38, faces up to 20 years in prison on the two counts of mail fraud and five years on the tax evasion charge, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Thomas Delahanty II.
Court records showed that while LaForge worked for Wright Express from 2006-08 he fraudulently billed the company and was paid roughly $231,000 for marketing services supposedly rendered by a fictitious company.
After LaForge left the company, he went to work as a financial analyst for L.L. Bean. While there from 2009-11, he fraudulently billed L.L. Bean and was paid $222,000 for marketing services rendered by the same fictitious company.
LaForge had sent the payments to the same New Hampshire mailbox and had failed to report any of the illicit income on his federal income tax returns from 2006-10, resulting in over $89,000 in unpaid income taxes.
LaForge has agreed to pay full restitution to the companies, their insurers and the IRS. He will be sentenced at a later date.
I wonder how many documents LaForge had to “Forge” to pass of his fraudulent bills?
I wonder how long it will take him to actually pay it all back!
So they don’t actually don’t care that he stole the money, only that he used the mail and didn’t pay taxes? Did I read that right?
Basically in a nut shell …………………… YES…………………. and I bet the IRS will get their money first before ether company ever see their money, if they ever do.
This is crazy. only in the good old USA. I also agree, the companies that he stole from will probably never see a penny. Shame.
WOW! I am in shock! Matt is such a wonderful person! I am speechless!