ZOBRIST-GERRY_ PHIL COVER-UP CHURCH FRAUD las wages, Nevada
The former CEO of a Nevada sports energy drink company, Xyience Inc., was sentenced Monday to 52 months in federal prison for tax evasion.Russell Pike, 50, of Las Vegas was convicted in April of failing to pay taxes on more than $7.9 million in income he earned in 2006.U.S. District Judge James Mahan on Monday also ordered Pike, who has previous felony convictions, to serve three years of supervised release after he gets out of prison and pay the Internal Revenue Service $1.2 million in restitution."There is no energy drink that gives you the ability to outrun IRS Criminal Investigation," said Paul Camacho, special agent in charge of the agency in Nevada. "We relentlessly follow the money to ensure crime does not pay."Camacho called Pike's case "just another example of unabated greed inflicting a heavy price."Pike founded Xyience, which sold sports energy drinks, including Xenergy, in more than 45,000 stores throughout the United States.The company once was a ringside sponsor of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, prosecutors said in opening statements at the trial.The criminal case focused on Pike's sale of 4.4 million shares of Xyience stock for $7.9 million in 2006, according to Nevada U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden and Kathryn Keneally, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Tax Division in Washington, D.C.Pike had asked an investor who bought 3 million shares of stock for $5 million to change the date of the purchase agreement to 2007 so that Pike could avoid paying taxes in 2006, prosecutors alleged at the trial.All the while, Pike was spending millions of dollars in 2006 maintaining a lavish lifestyle, which included buying and driving luxury cars and wagering at local sports books, prosecutors alleged.