A former Internal Revenue Service employee from Syracuse, Utah, has been handed a 12-month-and-a-day prison sentence for wire fraud after scheming to embezzle over $2 million, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Rodney Quinn Rupe, age 47, misused his access to IRS databases to shift tax credits from ExxonMobil's account to a fraudulent company he controlled, named Ex XO Exteriors Ltd.
The case unfolded as Rupe, leveraging his trusted position, initiated a series of unauthorized transfers starting back on April 15, 2022, to reroute $2,021,986, with the intent of generating a refund that he subsequently tried to deposit multiple times throughout 2024; it was during these attempts to deposit a hefty refund meant for his company for the 2019 tax year, after his resignation on October 31, 2023, Rupe's fraudulent activities ultimately led to his arrest. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, having sniffed out the fraud, took charge of the investigation, which led to Rupe’s guilty plea on June 11, 2025.
During sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Howard C. Nielson ordered Rupe's confinement and mandated two years of supervised release following his imprisonment. U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak highlighted the gravity of the breach, stating, "As a former IRS employee, Mr. Rupe accessed an IRS database as a trusted government employee to fraudulently obtain millions of dollars for his own personal use," and reaffirmed the administration's commitment to "ferreting out programmatic government fraud, particularly by those who abused their positions rather than protecting the Americans they swore to serve." as per U.S. Department of Justice.
