Former airline executive sentenced to prison for willfully failing to pay 2.6 million dollars in taxes owed to the IRS

 

Date: January 4, 2023

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

A former airline executive was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro to two years in prison after pleading guilty to failing to pay over $2.6 million in employment taxes to the IRS.

William Acor pleaded guilty in March 2022 to willful failure to collect and pay over employment taxes. In addition to the prison term, Acor has also agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $1,667,290.46 to the IRS.

According to court documents, Acor had been the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vision Airlines Inc., an airline headquartered in North Las Vegas. On behalf of Vision Airlines, Acor was responsible for collecting, accounting for, and paying over to the IRS taxes withheld from employee wages, including federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax. In addition, Vision Airlines was responsible for paying the employer matching share of Social Security taxes. From 2014 to 2016, Acor failed to pay over on behalf of Vision Airlines a total of $2,657,254.75 in combined employee tax withholdings and employer matching share of taxes. The government further alleged that Acor thwarted IRS collection efforts by transferring assets and income to a third party.

U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada and Special Agent in Charge Albert Childress for the IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.

IRS-CI investigated the case; and Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Schmale prosecuted the case.