A California man was sentenced to five years and three months in prison Friday for criminal conduct spanning three decades, federal officials stated.
The convicted felon failed to appear for sentencing, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, evading the proper income tax assessment and wire fraud.
According to court documents, Robin J. McPherson, formerly of San Diego, apprehended in Costa Rica and returned to the United States last year, failed to appear for his sentencing in March 2001.
McPherson had a bench trial on December 2000, convicting him and two co-defendants of conspiring to defraud the IRS and collectively evading over $1 million in income taxes for 1993 and 1994.
McPherson also engaged in additional criminal conduct.
In 1999 and 2000, he earned income from individuals whom he and a codefendant induced into investing in an internet shopping mall. He attempted to evade taxes due on this income proceeds by cashing the checks he received and directing the income to a bank account he controlled in Canada.
McPherson did not file income tax returns with the IRS for those years, causing a tax loss of approximately $79,367.
Later, between 2016 and 2020, McPherson, using the name Raymond James, defrauded individuals out of approximately $1.5 million by inducing them to invest in villas in Costa Rica that were never built, according to officials.
In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Janis L. Sammartino ordered McPherson to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay approximately $4.7 million in restitution to the victims of his fraud scheme and the United States.
IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI investigated the cases.
Trial Attorney Charles A. O’Reilly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the cases.