High roller? Hickory businessman used others’ cards to spend $1M at casinos and more

A Hickory businessman who used the credit cards of his customers to make $1 million worth of fraudulent purchases and failed to pay over $3.1 million in employment taxes was sentenced to 30 months in prison Tuesday, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.

James Robinson, 52, owner of Cabinet Solutions USA, Cox Manufacturing, Best Cabinet Doors and Cabinet Doors Fast, pleaded guilty to the credit card and tax fraud charges in federal court in North Carolina in January.

The four businesses were collectively known as the Cabinet Companies.

Robinson used the funds from his customers’ credit cards to make cash withdrawals from business accounts and to make cash deposits at casinos, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina said in its news release.

Robinson also used information from checks written to his companies by customers to create at least four counterfeit checks totaling over $93,000.

He made fraudulent credit card charges close to 300 times. Federal prosecutors said there are no additional details of those purchases.

Robinson failed to account for and pay about $3.1 million in certain taxes related to Social Security, Medicare and income from employee wages between 2017 and 2022, the Justice Department stated.

At the Cabinet Companies’ peak in 2022, it employed 75 people.

Cabinet Solutions USA was Robinson’s primary vehicle for tax fraud, as 97% of the $3.1 million in withheld trust fund taxes came from this business, according to federal court records.

Robinson was released on bond after his plea hearing. His 30 months in prison will be followed by two years of supervised release.

Robinson was ordered to pay over $4.4 million in restitution. He is working to sell manufacturing equipment and his two manufacturing buildings in Hickory to help pay the restitution, his lawyer wrote in a court filing.

He’s been unsuccessful in selling the properties so far. The sale of the two manufacturing buildings would gross an estimated $2.5 million.

Robinson lives a 10-minute drive north of Hickory in Granite Falls.