Hillsborough man sentenced to 12 years in prison for $3M national payroll firm scam

A Hillsborough County man who admitted to charges in a nationwide scheme to defraud staffing and payroll companies has been sentenced to 12 years in federal prison and ordered to pay more than $3 million in restitution, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Gregory Kehoe announced Tuesday. 

Crispian Atkins, 52, of Valrico, pleaded guilty May 20 to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, the release says. In addition to his 12-year federal prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington ordered Atkins to pay $3.01 million in restitution and forfeit $1.56 million in criminal proceeds.

The scheme targeted 10 companies nationwide that provided employment, payroll and financing services, court documents say. Atkins worked with several other co-conspirators to run the scam from May 2021 through March 2024, authorities alleged. 

Atkins would reach out to the targeted companies, falsely claiming to have secured contracts to perform information technology-related work for other businesses and needed their staffing or financial support to help fulfil them, records say. The victim companies agreed to provide funding for the bogus contracts or hire Atkins and his unnamed co-conspirators as “temporary employees” so they could complete the purported work. 

Atkins went as far as to submit fraudulent timesheets to these companies, who would then pay him and his associates for their work through wire transfers, prosecutors say. The conspirators then moved the money into other accounts, withdrew cash to conceal its source and divided their proceeds among themselves, the release says. 

The FBI’s Tampa Division and its Reno Resident Agency, part of the Las Vegas Division, investigated the case with assistance from the Norwood Police Department in Massachusetts and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ross Roberts prosecuted the case.