A Florida payroll company owner who diverted more than $20 million in client tax funds to build a luxury collection that included 27 Ferraris was sentenced Thursday to 50 months in federal prison.
Matthew Brown of Palm Beach Gardens owned Elite Payroll, which was hired by small businesses across three Florida counties to collect and remit employee withholding taxes to the IRS. Instead, Brown pocketed millions while filing falsified tax returns that drastically underreported his clients’ obligations, according to court documents.
“Between 2014 and 2022, Brown did not pay over $20,000,000 in taxes withheld from the wages of employees of clients of Elite Payroll and from other businesses he controlled and instead enriched himself,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in a press release.
In one 2021 example cited in court, Brown collected approximately $219,000 from a client for their quarterly tax liability but reported only $32,000 to the IRS, keeping about $190,000 for himself.
Brown used the diverted funds to purchase commercial and residential real estate, including his multimillion-dollar home, a yacht, a Falcon 50 aircraft, and dozens of luxury vehicles including Porsches and Rolls Royces alongside his Ferrari collection.
U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon of the Southern District of Florida also ordered Brown to serve two years of supervised release following his prison term, pay more than $22.4 million in restitution, and pay a $200,000 fine.
The case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.
