Former Tennessee business owner pleads guilty to employment tax crime

Date: April 15, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

WASHINGTON - A former Tennessee business owner pleaded guilty today to willfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS on behalf of the company she owned and operated.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Mari Alexander 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 Sept. 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.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.