An entrepreneur from Palm Beach has admitted to committing tax fraud following a federal probe that found he misappropriated over $20 million from his clients’ tax refunds.

Matthew Brown, aged 51, enjoyed the luxurious lifestyle typical of Florida’s affluent crowd until it unraveled last September. That’s when the Department of Justice charged him with felony offenses.

According to court papers accessed by DailyMail.com, he was accused of two counts of tax fraud for not paying required trust fund taxes and for submitting a fraudulent tax return.

The state argued that Brown’s scam funded luxury cars, including Ferraris, a jet plane, a yacht, and a slew of commercial real estate. 

Brown was accused of using the dirty money to purchase up to 48 vehicles, including 27 Ferraris. 

He also purchased a Valhalla 55 Sport luxury cruising yacht, which earned him a spot in the winter 2023 edition of Valhalla magazine. 

Brown and his wife, Kristin, spoke to the publication at the time of purchase about why they decided to buy the yacht, unbeknownst to anyone that he was committing fraud.  

‘We love the way Viking and Valhalla treat you like family,’ Kristin said of the yacht company.

‘We are car enthusiasts and support the Ferrari brand, where you get that same type of special support. To feel like you’re family and are truly appreciated is invaluable,’ she added. 

Brown said he looked forward to purchasing the yacht and planned to use it to take his friends fishing for sailfish, dolphins, and tuna. 

Kristin also earned herself a spread on Ferrari’s website for her visit to the New York City Ferrari Tailor Made showroom. 

She was described as an ‘avid Ferrarista’ and revealed that she likes a specific look for her luxury cars. 

‘They are all white exteriors, with black or carbon wheels. And I always do accents of red: red brake callipers, red accents in the interior,’ Kristin said. 

The feature described Kristin’s experience getting her tailor-made Ferrari. The news release concluded, ‘For her part, Brown is already thinking about her next car.’

Kristin added that after going tailor-made, ‘It’s hard to even think about not doing the process for every car.’

Kristin has not been charged with any crime but now the Browns’ life of Ferrari collections and yacht trips with friends has come to a screeching halt. 

Brown has traded in his luxury lifestyle for a prison cell as he was sentenced to 50 months and two years of supervised release on April 24. 

He was also fined $200 and will have to pay $22,401,585 in restitution to the companies he stole from. 

Brown committed tax fraud through his business, Elite Payroll, a payroll and human resource services company. 

From 2014 through 2022, Brown withheld funds from his clients and underreported their tax liabilities, according to court documents. He then pocketed the difference. 

‘Instead of paying over the funds he held in trust for his clients, Brown purchased commercial and residential real estate including his multi-million-dollar home and luxury vehicles including a Valhalla 55 Sport Yacht, a Falcon 50 Aircraft, and a collection of cars including Ferraris, Porsches, and Rolls Royce’s,’ court documents read. 

Then, starting in 2015, Brown began to withhold over $13million in trust fund taxes, which were meant for his employees’ Social Security and Medicare. 

He also failed to pay over $9million of employment taxes to the IRS. 

Brown ‘willfully aided and assisted in, and procured, counseled and advised’ a false tax return to the IRS reporting a tax liability of $32,245, knowing the correct liability was $219,384. 

Employees caught on to the scheme when they noticed that their Social Security contributions were $0, even though they were full-time and employers are required to withhold those funds. 

Before Brown’s sentencing, one employee wrote to the court in a victim impact statement, ‘One day, a colleague urged me to check my Social Security records. 

‘To my shock, my SSA contributions for three years were listed as $0 – despite full-time employment. 

‘It took months of persistence during the COVID shutdown to have this corrected. Afterward, I encouraged others to review their records, and many found the same issue.’

Brown’s attorney, Jeffrey Neiman, argued that his actions were a result of his father’s guidance. 

‘Against the backdrop of his difficult upbringing and family life, Mr. Brown made the worst decision of his life to violate the law,’ Neiman argued. 

He said that Brown was introduced to the industry by his father, who kicked him out of their house.    

Brown’s father then asked him to move to Florida from Rhode Island to work for him. His attorney argued that his father taught him to borrow money from customers to pay past-due payroll taxes. 

‘Initially, Mr. Brown was taught that this was simply how business was run and that there was nothing inherently unlawful about doing so. 

‘By the time he took over the reins of the company from his father, however, Mr. Brown learned otherwise,’ Neiman continued. 

‘Though we are by no means minimizing Mr. Brown’s actions, it is critical to recognize that he didn’t start the practice.’

Brown’s attorneys also disputed that he used the money to pay for his lavish lifestyle and instead used to funds for other customers’ payroll taxes. 

However, Andrew Ascencio with the DOJ said Brown used ‘fraud and deception’ to procure a nine-figure net worth. 

There are five Florida-based companies set to receive retribution from Brown. They are all in the contracting, construction, and home improvement industries. 

Three companies in the heating and cooling industry, partially owned by Brown, are also set to receive retribution. 

DailyMail.com reached out to the companies and Brown’s representation for comment, but didn’t immediately hear back.