Aracoma Contracting, a company
based in Mingo County
Jerome Russell, 50, of Williamson,
an executive for Aracoma Contracting, which is an employee leasing company, was
in U.S. District Court Wednesday to plead guilty to a federal charge on behalf
of the company itself.
Federal prosecutors said the
company was using structuring, with the help of an employee at the Bank of
Mingo, to break down cash transactions to amounts of $10,000 or less to avoid
the Internal Revenue Service’s reporting requirements between 2009 and 2012.
Russell and Frelin Workman,
58, of Belfry, Ky., have already plead guilty, as individuals, to a scheme to
defraud BrickStreet Insurance, a workers’ compensation insurance provider, and
were sentenced to prison time for it.
In the structuring scheme,
investigators found the two broke down at least $2.2 million out of
the Bank of Mingo themselves and with the help of a number of other people.
The cash withdrawals,
which were prepared in advance, were later used to pay workers so the
company could avoid the payment of employment taxes and fund bribes for a
former BrickStreet auditor.
That auditor, Arville Sargent, 52,
of Chapmanville, plead guilty to fraud and tax evasion in March for allowing
Aracoma and other companies to falsify documents to understate how many people
they employed.
Sentencing for Aracoma
Contracting is scheduled for Jan. 15.
