Alexandria Resident Ordered to Pay $20 Million in Fraud Case

Sean M. Weaver, 34, of Alexandria, was sentenced Tuesday to 71 months in prison for mail fraud and money laundering. Weaver was also ordered to pay $20,427,688.03 in restitution to victims of the offense, according to the Justice Department.

Weaver pleaded guilty on Aug. 19. According to court documents, Weaver was a member of the transaction tax practice group in the Arlington office of Ryan LLC, a tax services firm headquartered in Dallas. The transaction tax practice group specialized in submitting claims to state and local taxing authorities to obtain refunds of sales and/or use tax overpayments made by Ryan LLC’s corporate clients, the Justice Department said.

Weaver managed a team of 10 to 15 employees and was responsible for submitting claims to the state taxing authorities on behalf of Ryan LLC’s clients. Between October 2011 and December 2014, Weaver submitted and caused to be submitted several false claims for sales and/or use tax refunds to the Virginia Department of Taxation and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts on behalf of two of Ryan LLC’s clients.

Before the wrongdoing came to light, Weaver was promoted by his company last December; the company put out a news release about the promotion that included this information about him:

“Sean Weaver is an executive based in the Washington, D.C. office and specializes in providing transaction tax services on a nationwide basis to clients in the defense, technology, data center, and manufacturing industries. Mr. Weaver joined the Firm in 2005 and is a member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation. He is a frequent speaker on tax and site selection issues impacting data centers and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Southern Methodist University.”

In submitting the false claims, Weaver manipulated client transactional data and falsified invoices and other transactional records to inflate the amount of sales and/or use tax actually paid by the clients during certain transactions, the Justice Department said.

As a result of the scheme, the state taxing authorities issued over $20 million in fraudulent refunds to Ryan LLC clients and Weaver received over $350,000 in personal bonus payments generated by the scheme, according to the Justice Department. As part of the plea agreement, Weaver agreed to forfeit $250,480.09 seized by the United States as property involved in the offense and the value of his account with a peer-to-peer lending company.

Ryan LLC voluntarily reported Weaver’s actions to law enforcement and fully cooperated in the investigation.