Date: April 8, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Dayton, OH — An Atlanta-area man was arrested this morning by IRS Criminal Investigation special agents on federal charges alleging he fraudulently converted two businesses’ IRS accounts to his name and address. The defendant received tax refund checks – including one for more than $32 million – that were to be paid out to these two businesses.
Christopher Dowtin of Jonesboro, Georgia, will appear in federal court in Atlanta today. He is charged with wire fraud and theft of public money.
According to charging documents, Dowtin fraudulently submitted IRS forms claiming to be the responsible party for two separate companies.
In December 2024, the IRS processed eight change of address or responsible party-business forms associated with Dowtin. Dowtin’s requests for changes were completed and accepted. He ultimately received two tax refund checks for those companies: one in the amount of $32,495,888.58 and one in the amount of $26,156.50.
Dowtin allegedly traveled from Georgia to Ohio with the two checks to open an account in the Southern District of Ohio.
On Feb. 13, Dowtin allegedly took the checks to a Morgan Stanley office in Beavercreek, Ohio, and attempted to negotiate the funds into a brokerage account in a trust in his name. The affidavit details that Dowtin told the Morgan Stanley financial advisor that the two companies were paying him for illegally using his “personhood.” He said the payments owed to him had been transferred to him from the IRS. The financial advisor verified that the checks were valid U.S. Treasury checks.
On Feb. 19, an executive director at Morgan Stanley contacted the United States Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation regarding the suspicious nature of the checks and Dowtin’s supporting paperwork. The checks were seized by law enforcement.
Wire fraud is a federal crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Theft of public funds carries a potential sentence of up to 10 years in prison.
Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); and Yvonne DiCristoforo, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service; announced the arrest and charges. Assistant United States Attorney Amy M. Smith is representing the United States in this case.
A criminal complaint merely contains allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative 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. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.