HAZLEHURST, Miss. (WJTV) – The chief financial officer (CFO) of a Mississippi company pled guilty to willfully failing to report and pay over employment taxes withheld from employees’ paychecks.

According to court documents, Julian Russ, of Louisiana, was the CFO of Community Construction Company LLC, which was a pipeline-maintenance and construction company based in Hazlehurst.

Prosecutors said Russ did not file required quarterly employment tax returns or pay over the taxes withheld from employees’ wages to the IRS from 2012 through October 2018.

In total, prosecutors said Russ caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $6 million.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on September 19, 2023. Russ faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

The IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case.