A former IRS employee was charged in Utah federal court for allegedly trying to steal $2.1 million in tax credits owed to Exxon Mobil by diverting the funds using a taxpayer database he had access to. Rupe was working at the IRS' service center in Ogden, Utah, in 2021 when he began the diversion scheme, according to an indictment filed Wednesday. As part of his job, Rupe "had the ability to adjust tax, credits, penalties, and interest to certain taxpayer accounts in an IRS computer database," the indictment said. In April 2022, the indictment says, Rupe accessed a database to transfer $2.02 million in tax credits from oil and gas giant Exxon's taxpayer account to Ex Xo Exteriors Ltd.'s taxpayer account, the indictment alleges. More than a year later, in August 2023, Rupe "accessed an IRS database to transfer the diverted tax credit funds from one tax year to another," the indictment says.

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Persons: Rodney Quinn Rupe, Rupe Organizations: IRS, Exxon Mobil, Prosecutors, Treasury, Xo Locations: Utah, Syracuse , Utah, U.S, Salt Lake City, Ogden , Utah