JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville brothers have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud related to a Jacksonville roofing business that they operated following a joint investigation with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Jacksonville.
Travis Morgan Slaughter and Tripp Charles Slaughter, both of Jacksonville, each face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison for the tax fraud offense and up to 20 years’ imprisonment for the mail and wire fraud offense. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Travis Slaughter has agreed to forfeit $2,780,947 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $6,768,612 for the payroll tax loss, $2,780,947 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $271,217 for two paid workers’ compensation claims.
Tripp Slaughter has agreed to forfeit to the United States $416,800 in proceeds he obtained from the mail and wire fraud offense and to pay restitution of $623,269 for the payroll tax loss, $416,800 for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, and $137,778 for a paid workers’ compensation claim.
According to their plea agreements, since 2007 the Slaughters have operated a roofing business in Jacksonville, first under the name “Great White Construction,” then under the name “Florida Roofing Experts,” and finally under the name “5 Star Roofing Services.” Although the names changed, each business operated in the same manner, banked at the same financial institutions, and employed the same employees.
The company contracted with professional employer organizations to prepare payroll checks for employees, after making deductions for payroll taxes, and to file payroll tax returns and forward tax payments to governmental authorities. However, the company did not provide the professional employer organizations with information about all the hours worked by, or all the wages due to, its employees. Instead, the company also paid the employees directly, with separate checks drawn on company bank accounts, and did not deduct payroll taxes from these checks. By paying employees with “split checks” — one from the professional employer organizations and one from the company — the company avoided paying the full amount of payroll taxes due to the IRS.
During the period of January 2017 through July 2020, the professional employer organizations issued payroll checks to the employees totaling approximately $4,930,613, after deducting and paying over to the IRS the payroll taxes due. During that same period, the company issued checks to the employees totaling approximately $18,545,845, with no payroll taxes being deducted or paid. The total unpaid payroll taxes on that amount were $2,768,377.
The professional employer organizations also secured workers’ compensation insurance coverage for the company. The premiums charged by the workers’ compensation insurers were based on the total amount of payroll that the company reported to the professional employer organizations. If the company had reported the actual amount of payroll, the insurers would have charged additional premiums totaling $2,780,947.
In addition to causing the company to underreport their payroll to the IRS, the Slaughters also underreported their personal income to the IRS. For the tax years 2014 through 2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Travis Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $2,467,183. For the tax years 2015 through 2019, the total unpaid taxes due on Tripp Slaughter’s unreported income totaled $263,614.
This case was investigated by HSI Jacksonville, the IRS – Criminal Investigation, Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General, and the Florida Department of Financial Services. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier. The asset forfeiture is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer M. Harrington.
HSI Tampa’s area of responsibility, which includes 10 geographically strategic offices, covers more than 51,600 square miles of the total 65,757 square miles in the state of Florida. This region has more than 14.2 million people and includes 58 of the 67 counties. HSI Tampa also includes five of the 10 largest cities in Florida, 15 primary commercial service airports, and 11 seaports.
Learn more about HSI Tampa’s mission to increase public safety in Florida communities on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSITampa.