United States of America v. Mari Alexander

Nashville, Tennessee criminal defense lawyers represented the Defendant charged with failure to account for and pay over employment tax and failure to account for and pay over employment tax.

Mari Alexander, 52, was the sole owner and president of a mental-health counseling center with multiple locations throughout Tennessee. Alexander controlled the counseling center’s financial affairs and was responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and federal income taxes from the wages of employees and paying those funds over to the IRS each quarter, as well as filing quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS. From 2015 through 2020, however, Alexander willfully failed to pay over to the IRS the payroll taxes she collected from the counseling center’s employees, and willfully failed to file more than 20 quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS. In total, Alexander caused a tax loss to the United States of more than $1 million.

Alexander pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to account for and pay over employment taxes. She is scheduled to be sentenced on September 17, 2026, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek of the Middle District of Tennessee made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorney Curtis Weidler of the Criminal Division’s Tax Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah K. Bogni for the Middle District of Tennessee are prosecuting the case.

The Defendant elected to plead guilty.