Hickory business owner fails to pay $3 million in employment taxes, sentenced: DOJ

HICKORY, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — A Granite Falls man has been sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for tax and credit card fraud, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

James Christopher Robinson, 52, will serve two years of supervised release following his 2.5-year prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay $4.4 million in restitution.

Robinson owned multiple manufacturing and retail businesses in Hickory including Cabinet Solutions USA Inc., Best Cabinet Doors, LLC, Cabinet Doors Fast, LLC, and Cox Manufacturing, LLC (collectively, Cabinet Companies).

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Documents show that between March 2020 and April 2023, Robison accessed the credit cards of Cabinet Companies’ customers and made 294 fraudulent charges totaling about $1 million. He also allegedly created at least four counterfeit checks worth more than $93,000, using information from actual checks written to his business.

According to court records, Robinson caused two of his companies to fail to comply with their tax obligation by failing to account for and pay more than $3.1 million on time between 2017-2022.

Officials say Robinson used the stolen funds to withdraw large sums of cash from his business accounts and make hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash deposits at casinos.

Robinson pled guilty to access device fraud and failure to truthfully account for and pay over trust fund taxes. The Department of Justice says he is released on bond and will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin his sentence once assigned to a federal facility.

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