JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former Latitude 360 CEO Brent Brown has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on tax fraud charges and pay more than $3.8 million in restitution according to the Department of Justice.
Brown pleaded guilty on Jan. 11.
Brown established the initial version of the Latitude 360 entities in June 2010 with a location in Jacksonville. Main Event Jacksonville now operates in the 10370 Philips Highway space.
The once popular entertainment center closed its doors Jan. 7, 2016, owing millions of dollars in rent and thousands to its ex-employees. A group of ex-employees later sued Brown.
According to court documents, the Latitude 360, which unincluded locations in Indianapolis and Pittsburgh, businesses withheld payroll taxes from employees in trust, which taxes were legally required to be paid over to the IRS.
For several years, Brown "instead directed the monies be paid elsewhere," the DOJ said. The Latitude 360 businesses under Brown failed to pay the IRS the employer’s portion of the payroll taxes. Between tax years 2013 and 2016, the DOJ continued, Brown failed to pay the IRS more than $5.3 million in payroll taxes.
Brown then siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Latitude 360 businesses to pay personal expenses, including rent for a luxury Manhattan apartment and tuition at a Manhattan preparatory school, the release said.
“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. “We will continue to investigate payroll tax fraud to ensure cheats are not rewarded for their actions and other law-abiding employers are not placed at a competitive disadvantage.”
