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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Florida Escort Pleads Guilty to Underreporting Income

WASHINGTON – A Fort Lauderdale, Florida, escort pleaded guilty today to filing a false corporate tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Ariana Fajardo Orshan.

According to court documents, Jami Kopacz worked as a paid escort for clients across the United States.  Kopacz received payments directly from his escort clients, and also from a private business for whom he worked as an independent contractor.  From 2015 to 2018, Kopacz used his corporation, JK Training, LLC, to receive income, and then filed false corporate tax returns (Forms 1120S) that substantially underreported the company’s gross receipts and total income.  The understatement on JK Training’s corporate tax return was consequently passed through to Kopacz’s individual tax returns, which were also false as they underreported his total income. Kopacz caused a total tax loss of $278,325.

Magistrate Judge Patrick M. Hunt accepted Kopacz’s plea today.  Sentencing is schedule before U.S. District Judge Roy K. Altman on March 5, 2021.  Kopacz faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, monetary penalties, and restitution.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Fajardo Orshan commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Browne and Trial Attorney Grace Albinson of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting this case.

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

Topic(s): 
Tax
Component(s): 
Press Release Number: 
20-1359
Updated December 16, 2020