Maryland CEO sentenced to 18 months for $2M payroll tax fraud scheme

Brett Hill, a business owner from Parkton and Berlin, Maryland, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison. The case involved employment tax crimes linked to his role as CEO and president of two telecommunications firms. A federal court found him guilty of failing to hand over withheld payroll taxes to the government.

Hill led two telecommunications companies where he was responsible for collecting payroll taxes. Between 2014 and 2018, he withheld federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from employees' wages. Instead of paying these funds to the government, he used them for other purposes.

The total tax loss from his actions exceeded $2 million. In July 2024, a jury convicted him on 16 counts of willful failure to collect and pay over payroll taxes. Beyond the prison term, Hill must serve three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $658,485 in restitution to the United States.

The sentence follows a conviction for repeated failures to submit employee taxes. Hill's case highlights the legal consequences of diverting withheld payroll funds. The restitution order aims to recover a portion of the unpaid taxes for the government.