Sentencing set for man who cheated the IRS

5/23/2013
BLADE STAFF

DETROIT — An Adrian man who defrauded the Internal Revenue Service of more than $13.4 million is to be sentenced Aug. 13 in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

Jason Syrek, 39, pleaded guilty last week in federal court to health-care fraud and filing a false tax return. He faces up to 87 months in prison under the terms of a plea deal with federal prosecutors.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Syrek, as director of CAS Resources of Adrian, an employee services firm, he collected $1.75 million in premiums from client firms in November and December, 2010. The money was to have been paid to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan but was instead kept by Syrek for personal use, court documents state.

Between 2010 and 2011, Syrek collected payroll taxes from clients, filed forms with the IRS, but did not pay the more than $13.4 million in taxes. He instead purchased beachfront properties in Florida, several cars, a boat, and investment properties. To repay the $1.75 million to Blue Cross Blue Shield and the $13.4 million to the IRS, his homes and vehicles are to be forefeited.

“Fraud schemes like this one may involve sophisticated methods, but they are nothing more than stealing,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in a news release. “This defendant robbed health-care programs and taxpayers for his personal benefit.”

In 2007, Syrek was convicted of bank fraud in U.S. District Court in Toledo and sentenced to 13 months in prison for initiating payments of more than $800,000 from the account of a defunct client of his business, One Source Management of Maumee, to his company’s account.