Former NASCAR Cup Series team owner Ron Devine was indicted Wednesday on four counts of failure to pay payroll taxes, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina.
Devine, 67, was the majority owner of BK Racing, which competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2012 to 2018. Prior to the 2018 Daytona 500, the team filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to prevent Union Bank & Trust from taking (and selling) the team’s charter.
Later that year, the bankruptcy court sold the organization’s charter and assets to Front Row Motorsports for $2.08 million.
The indictment alleges that as owner and President of BK Racing, Devine had full control over the team’s finances, which included; control over accounts, directing and authorizing bill payments, and authorizing the filing and payment of payroll taxes.
Starting in 2012, Devine is said to have caused BK Racing to not properly pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in payroll taxes, with the indictment citing 2017, where Devine allegedly failed to pay more than $390,000 in payroll taxes to the IRS.
Furthermore, the indictment alleges that between 2017 and 2017, instead of using funds held held in trust to pay for payroll taxes, Devine transferred $2 million to other entities he owned or controlled, and usedsome funds to pay for BK Racing’s expenses.
Now, Devine will have his initial appearance in federal court in Charlotte. The charge of failure to truthfully account for and pay over trust fund taxes carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the four counts in the indictment.
