Former Latitude 360 CEO Brent Brown was sentenced April 10 to 30 months in federal prison for willfully failing to pay over to the IRS employment taxes that were withheld from employees’ paychecks.
A news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida said Brown was further ordered to pay more than $3.8 million in restitution to the IRS. Brown entered a guilty plea Jan. 11, 2024.
According to court documents, Brown established the initial version of the Latitude entities in June 2010 with a location in Jacksonville, doing business under the name Latitude 360.
The Latitude entities operated restaurant and entertainment complexes and expanded to include locations in Indianapolis; Pittsburgh; and Albany, New York – although that location never opened to the public.
As part of its business operations, the Latitude entities withheld payroll taxes from employees in trust, which taxes were legally required to be paid over to the IRS. Instead of paying the amounts over to the IRS, for multiple years Brown directed the monies be paid elsewhere.
Additionally, the Latitude entities – at Brown’s direction – failed to pay over to the IRS the employer’s portion of the payroll taxes. Between tax years 2013 and 2016, Brown willfully failed to pay over to the IRS more than $5.3 million in payroll taxes.
During the same time period, Brown diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Latitude entities to pay personal expenses including rent on a luxury Manhattan apartment and tuition at a Manhattan preparatory school.
“With this sentencing, Brent Brown was reminded that the responsibility to pay federal taxes is a legal obligation and not a game,” IRS–Criminal Investigation Acting Special Agent in Charge Lani Rosado-Espinal said in the release.
The case was investigated by Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura Cofer Taylor and Arnold Corsmeier.