The Augusta County businessman accused of defrauding the IRS and bilking the younger brother of the Parkland, Florida, shooter used his stolen millions on luxury cars, corporate retreats and his own wedding, according to court documents.
Richard Moore, the former vice president of Verona-based Nexus Services, pocketed $3.2 million that was supposed to pay for employee Medicare and Social Security benefits over the course of a decade starting in 2014, U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Moore, who pleaded guilty in January to two counts of tax fraud, failed to show up for his sentencing in court May 29. His absence was attributed to a medical emergency after he posted online about committing suicide. The News Virginian has not been able to locate Moore since then.
Whenever he does appear for sentencing in the U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg, federal prosecutors are asking for the maximum penalty: 10 years in prison.
People are also reading…
Moore
Prosectors say Moore “cavalierly ignored his legal obligation to pay employment taxes and instead diverted the money that he withheld from his employees’ paychecks to fund his lavish lifestyle.”
Moore purchased three Maseratis, three Ferraris and two BMWs, worth more than $500,000 total. He spent another $1.2 million on corporate retreats. And he invested $573,000 in his own wedding in 2016 to his current husband and former business partner Michael Donovan. Donovan served as CEO of Nexus Services, which provided services for immigrants in federal detention.
The money Moore spent could have and should have belonged to his employees, prosecutors say.
“This amount could fund such things as yearly Medicaid benefits for approximately 351 recipients, yearly Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 1,257 families or countless other programs and services critical to Americans,” the sentencing memorandum reads.
Prosecutors say the 10-year sentence they are seeking is necessary to deter other business executives from using money withheld from employee paychecks to enrich themselves.
When employers such as Moore “steal from Social Security and Medicare taxes paid by their employees, it undermines the financial stability of a system from which all Americans benefit,” they wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
The memorandum also details past criminal offenses Moore committed dating back to 1996. They include multiple convictions for writing bad checks, using forged and counterfeit checks to purchase a vehicle, contempt of court and perjury.
Michael Donovan, right, is accused of swindling Zachary Cruz, right, out of his inheritance after the two grew close in the wake of the 2018 Parkland, Florida, shooting perpetrated by Cruz’s brother.
Both Moore and Donovan are on the hook for more than $800 million in civil penalties resulting from a finding in a federal lawsuit last year that their company used fraudulent business practices. Under the weight of civil judgments, Nexus Services was sold to a Pennsylvania businessman last year for $5.
Both Moore and Donovan are scheduled to go on trial in Augusta County in September for defrauding Zachary Cruz, the younger brother of Nikolas Cruz, who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
The two men are accused of taking a $426,000 inheritance belonging to the younger Cruz after they moved him to Virginia after the mass shooting. They are charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
#lee-rev-content { margin:0 -5px; }
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-family: inherit!important;
font-weight: 700!important;
border-left: 8px solid var(–lee-blox-link-color);
text-indent: 7px;
font-size: 24px!important;
line-height: 24px;
}
#lee-rev-content .rc-provider {
font-family: inherit!important;
}
#lee-rev-content h4 {
line-height: 24px!important;
font-family: “serif-ds”,Times,”Times New Roman”,serif!important;
margin-top: 10px!important;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#lee-rev-content h3 {
font-size: 18px!important;
line-height: 18px;
}
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article {
clear: both;
background-color: #fff;
color: #222;
background-position: bottom;
background-repeat: no-repeat;
padding: 15px 0 20px;
margin-bottom: 40px;
border-top: 4px solid rgba(0,0,0,.8);
border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(0,0,0,.2);
display: none;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article,
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article p {
font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, “Segoe UI”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, “Apple Color Emoji”, “Segoe UI Emoji”, “Segoe UI Symbol”;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article h2 {
font-size: 24px;
margin: 15px 0 5px 0;
font-family: “serif-ds”, Times, “Times New Roman”, serif;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article .lead {
margin-bottom: 5px;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article .email-desc {
font-size: 16px;
line-height: 20px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
opacity: 0.7;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article form {
padding: 10px 30px 5px 30px;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article .disclaimer {
opacity: 0.5;
margin-bottom: 0;
line-height: 100%;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article .disclaimer a {
color: #222;
text-decoration: underline;
}
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article .email-hammer {
border-bottom: 3px solid #222;
opacity: .5;
display: inline-block;
padding: 0 10px 5px 10px;
margin-bottom: -5px;
font-size: 16px;
}
@media (max-width: 991px) {
#pu-email-form-crime-email-article form {
padding: 10px 0 5px 0;
}
}
.grecaptcha-badge { visibility: hidden; }