Construction company president Nigel Kenneth Joseph has been hit with a 14-count complaint involving allegations of payroll tax evasion and wire fraud schemes, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced. The complaint accuses Joseph of not only evading millions in payroll taxes but also defrauding a construction contractor of large sums and committing identity theft. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, Joseph conducted most of his illicit activities between 2019 and 2021, a time during which his company BWK earned upwards of $10 million.
Despite the substantial income, Nigel Joseph, as the complaint alleges, chose a lifestyle financed by illegal means, including purchases of courtside NBA tickets and travel to exotic destinations, rather than meet his tax obligations. Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of IRS-Criminal Investigation, Harry T. Chavis, Jr., weighed in, saying, "When a person purportedly leases luxury vehicles, buys NBA tickets and travels to tropical islands instead of paying payroll taxes for his employees, it is the American people who are victimized," as reported by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Joseph’s negligent behavior extended to refusing to collect or pay taxes and producing false documents to maintain the façade requisite for receiving payments under construction contracts. An IRS-CI investigation revealed that falling short of approximately $2.9 million in employee taxes and about $750,000 owed by his company as employer was not all—Joseph also instructed the creation of falsified payroll documents intended to misrepresent his workforce's tax withholdings and work hours.
An employee, instructed to falsify records, relayed a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office which shows Joseph’s disregard for legal accounting practices, saying that he had decided not to file taxes during the pandemic because "the IRS was, Joseph said in sum and substance, not paying attention." The brazen nature of the alleged fraud included text messages such as one from February 3, 2022, wherein Joseph expressed concern about getting caught, remarking, "Damn... I’m thinking I should not have put everyone working 35 hours every week."
Nigel Joseph, 45, faces a myriad of charges, with potentially severe consequences including maximum sentencing possibilities: 11 counts of failing to pay over payroll taxes could lead to five years in prison for each count, a conspiracy to commit wire fraud count, and a wire fraud count both carry a 20-year maximum sentence, and for aggravated identity theft, a mandatory two-year sentence awaits. Note that these charges are merely accusations at this stage, with Joseph presumed innocent until proven guilty, as emphasized by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
