Former IRS employee charged in $2.1 million Exxon Mobil tax credit theft attempt in Utah

• A former IRS employee was indicted in Utah federal court for allegedly trying to steal $2.1 million in tax credits owed to oil and gas giant Exxon Mobil.
• The ex-IRS worker, Rodney Quinn Rupe, received a U.S. Treasury check in that amount after diverting Exxon's tax credits to an entity he had created, prosecutors said.
• Rupe, who allegedly tried to deposit the check at multiple credit union locations, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and theft of government property in Salt Lake City.

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.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that former IRS account management worker Rodney Quinn Rupe received a U.S. Treasury check for $2,100,377 in January after diverting Exxon's tax credits to an entity he had created, and then tried to deposit the check at multiple credit union locations over the next two months.

Rupe, a 46-year-old who lives in Syracuse, Utah, is charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud and theft of government property in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City.

He is due to make his first appearance in the case on July 3 in that court. The case was highlighted Thursday by the legal news website Court Watch.

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.

Rupe accessed Exxon's taxpayer account through the IRS database starting in April 2021, and