Charles Jon David of Jacksonville, Florida has been indicted for wire and tax fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Middle District of Florida announced in a press release Thursday. David, 57, has been charged with four counts of tax fraud and three counts of wire fraud for allegedly using his position at a Jacksonville religious organization to siphon off funds for personal benefit. Three other individuals were allegedly involved in the scheme as well, but their names have not been released. The press release did not mention whether David has retained an attorney to represent him in the case.
The indictment comes after a joint investigation by the IRS, FBI, and the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Laura Cofer Taylor will prosecute the case. It is not clear at this time whether the three co-conspirators have been identified or charged.
The indictment indicates that the alleged fraud took place between May 2012 through the later months of 2018. During that time, David reportedly held the position of Director of Construction of Business Operations for a religious organization in Jacksonville. Sources say this organization serviced over 140,000 persons through a network of churches in Northeast Florida, although it remained unnamed by the press release. It is unclear whether David retained his position with the organization past 2018 and, if he did not, how his time there ended.
As a part of his position, David was responsible for liquidating real estate assets owned by the organization, the indictment states. David allegedly offered two of the co-conspirators artificially low prices on property owned by the religious organization. The unnamed co-conspirators allegedly bought the property below market value and in exchange paid David at least $204,500. This money was reportedly paid via check in five installments.
David purportedly used the third co-conspirator, who also remains unnamed, as a middle-man to sell property at an elevated price to another buyer. After David used his position to sell the third co-conspirator a piece of the religious organization’s property at a lower price, the indictment states that David devised the sale of the property from the third co-conspirator to another person at the elevated price. For his services, the third co-conspirator reportedly paid David $44,000 via check.
David was charged with tax fraud because he allegedly underreported his income on his 2013 tax return. He also failed to include the payments from the co-conspirators on his federal income tax returns in 2015, 2016, and 2018, according to the release.
If he is convicted on all charges, David could be jailed for up to 72 years (20 years for each count of wire fraud, 3 years for each count of tax fraud). He is also required to forfeit a minimum of $273,500 he allegedly acquired through the fraud in addition to two pieces of real estate. With proper representation, David could seek to minimize the charges and strive for the best possible outcome in his case.
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