Former Colorado Defense Contractor Executive Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Did Not Report More Than $5.5 Million in Income

**WASHINGTON —** The Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) welcomed today the guilty plea of a former managing director for a defense contractor to tax evasion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

From 2010 through 2019, James M. Robar, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, did not timely file tax returns with the IRS. Beginning in approximately February 2012, James Robar was employed by a U.S. Department of Defense contracting company, eventually serving as its managing director starting in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, Robar evaded taxes by having his employer hold his bonus payments in an offshore corporate bank account rather than have those funds transferred to his domestic bank account. In 2019, after receiving a $1 million bonus from his employer, Robar purchased two properties at a total cost of slightly more than $1 million, and he titled both properties solely in his spouse’s name. In total, Robar did not report approximately $5.5 million in compensation he earned from 2012 through 2019, causing a tax loss to the government of more than $1.5 million.

Robar is the second defendant associated with the defense contracting company to plead guilty. Charles Squires pleaded guilty to tax evasion in February 2022.

IRS-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction are conducting the investigation. Assistance was provided by the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), which brings together tax authorities of Australia, Canada, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States.

Robar is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

The J5 leads the fight against international tax crime and money laundering, including cryptocurrency threats and those who undertake, enable or facilitate global tax evasion. They work together to gather information, share intelligence and conduct coordinated operations against transnational financial crimes. The J5 includes the Australian Taxation Office, the Canadian Revenue Agency, the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs from the U.K. and IRS-CI from the U.S. The J5 was formed in 2018 after a call to arms from the OECD Taskforce on Tax Crime.

For more information about the J5, please visit www.irs.gov/j5.

JUSTIN COLE [email protected] 202-768-2110