Florida Airplane Broker Convicted of Tax and Wire Fraud

A federal jury sitting in Miami, Florida, convicted a resident of Pompano Beach, Florida, of filing fraudulent tax returns, wire fraud and filing false monthly reports with the U.S. Probation Office, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida.

According to evidence presented at trial, Timothy J. Beverley, 61, worked as an airplane broker at Majestic Jet Inc., a company in Pompano Beach that provided aircraft charters.  From 2010 through 2013, Beverley stole more than $1.5 million from Majestic Jet by directing airplane escrow agents to wire funds from the sale of planes to nominee bank accounts that Beverley controlled.  Beverley also stole funds directly from Majestic’s business bank accounts and used the money to pay for personal expenses including his boat and rent.  Beverley did not report this income on his 2010 through 2013 personal tax returns.  While working at Majestic Jet, Beverley was on supervised release stemming from his federal conviction for money laundering in January 2004.  As a condition of his supervised release, Beverley was required to file monthly reports with the U.S. Probation Office that listed his net earnings from employment.  Between November 2009 through October 2012, Beverley did not disclose the money he stole from Majestic Jet on his filed reports.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 5, 2018 before U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom.  Beverley faces a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the wire fraud counts, three years in prison for each count of filing fraudulent returns and five years in prison for making false statements.  Beverley also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture, and monetary penalties.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Greenberg thanked special agents of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Senior Litigation Counsel Neil Karadbil and Assistant Chief Greg Tortella of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case. 

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.