Oregon business owner sentenced to federal prison for employment tax crimes

Date: Feb. 26, 2026

Contact: [email protected]

Portland, OR - An owner and president of a collection of healthcare staffing companies was sentenced to federal prison today for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS on behalf of the companies he owned and operated.

Jeffrey A. Kruse was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay over $2.8 million in restitution.

According to court documents, Kruse was the founder, owner, and president of a collection of healthcare staffing companies that provided temporary staffing of medical and healthcare workers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. Kruse managed payroll and handled employment taxes, ensuring collection, accounting, and periodic payments to the IRS for the businesses' employees. Kruse falsely underreported and underpaid his employment tax obligations by creating two sets of tax forms for his employees - a false set of tax forms that he sent to the government that underreported his employees' compensation and the employment tax due, and an accurate set of tax forms that Kruse sent his employees for use in reporting their own tax obligations.

Kruse's conduct caused a total tax loss of over $3.6 million.

On June 20, 2025, Kruse was charged by information with one count of willful failure to collect, account for, and pay over trust fund taxes.

On Aug. 6, 2025, Kruse pleaded guilty to count one of the information.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew T. Ho prosecuted the case.

IRS-CI is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. It is the only federal law enforcement agency with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code. IRS-CI has 18 field offices located across the U.S. and maintains an international presence through attaché posts abroad.