Michael Graves, 70, of Charlton Heights, pleaded guilty on Apr. 14 to filing a false tax return after admitting to underreporting his income and causing significant tax losses totaling $266,053.00.
The case highlights ongoing efforts by federal authorities to investigate and prosecute individuals who commit fraud against the government. The Department of Justice has stated that combating fraud is a key priority, with the National Fraud Enforcement Division focusing on prosecuting those who misuse taxpayer dollars.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Graves filed a Form 1040 for the 2016 tax year listing his income as $816.00 but later admitted his actual income was approximately $427,256.00 for that year. This resulted in a tax loss of about $125,285.00 to the Internal Revenue Service. Graves also acknowledged underreporting his annual income from 2017 through 2020 by roughly $608,163.00 in total and wrongfully withholding an additional $140,768.00 from the U.S Treasury Department.
During this period, Graves owned West Virginia Environmental Services Inc., which received over $9.8 million between 2006 and 2020 for accepting industrial waste at a Fayette County landfill and treating contaminated liquid or leachate produced there. In February 2023, both Graves individually and WVES pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act after failing to maintain leachate collection systems at the landfill beginning in at least 2016—a failure that led to toxic pollutants entering Jarrett Branch near Alloy.
Graves is scheduled for sentencing on July 30, facing up to three years in prison along with supervised release and fines totaling up to $250,000; he also owes restitution of more than $266,000. United States Attorney Moore Capito commended investigators from IRS-Criminal Investigations as well as environmental agencies whose work brought these offenses to light.
