A Grosse Pointe Park businessman has been hit with a three-year prison sentence for his part in a drug-fueled, multi-million dollar money laundering and tax obstruction scheme, federal officials said. Matthew Adams, whose mischief ran from 2008 to 2017, was also ordered to shell out more than $3 million in restitution to the IRS for the shady shenanigans involving his company, MDA Property Services, according to the Justice Department.
Selling illegal drugs to the president of an unnamed company, identified only as "Individual A," Adams received more than $10 million in checks over four years disguised as legitimate payments for work done by his business, federal documents reveal. Having deposited several of these hefty sums into his personal and business accounts, Adams cashed out a cool $5.3 million at a local liquor store, as if celebrating a job well done while hiding his illicit activities from the taxman, WWJ Newsradio 950 reported.
The high-rolling Adams didn't stop there. From his dirty money pile, the convicted launderer bought real estate and lived a life of luxury, dropping cash on private flights, gambling, and expensive cars, including a Cadillac Escalade and a Hummer. He played the benevolent businessman to his tax preparer, only revealing the deposits from one bank account that led to the filing of incomplete tax returns, IRS documents showed.
When the IRS came knocking for an audit in 2017, Adams lied through his teeth, falsely claiming that a whopping 90% of the payments made to MDA Property Services were for actual work performed, when in reality, a measly 3% was legitimate. This brazen misrepresentation was in defiance of the financial truths laid bare by the investigation, which pulled back the veil on Adam’s far-reaching deception. His spending spree also included funding his golfing hobby, jewelry acquisitions, and even a firearm among other personal pleasures, said authorities, caught up in the high life while dodging Uncle Sam.
At the end of this high-stakes game, Adams faced the music in the courtroom. U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Leitman sent him down for three years with an added sting of three years of supervised release. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg, with IRS Criminal Investigation's stamp of authority, brought this sordid tale of fraud and fiscal falsehoods to its seemingly just conclusion.
