A Virginia businessman was sentenced to 78 months in prison on Friday, March 14, 2025, for committing tax fraud and defrauding investors in a wire fraud scheme that caused significant financial losses. Rick Tariq Rahim, of Great Falls, was convicted of multiple charges that collectively caused nearly $4.5 million in losses to the IRS and defrauded customers of his investment schemes.
Tax Fraud Scheme
According to court documents, Rahim, who owned and operated several businesses, including laser tag facilities and an Amazon reseller, failed to pay the taxes withheld from his employees’ paychecks between 2015 and 2021. Rahim also neglected to file the required quarterly employment tax returns during this period. His tax evasion practices included submitting false statements to the IRS to hide valuable assets, such as a helicopter, multiple luxury cars, and real estate in Great Falls.
In an attempt to avoid paying his taxes, Rahim transferred ownership of the Great Falls property to his wife and used business bank accounts to pay for personal expenses, including over $889,000 toward mortgages and more than $669,000 for the purchase or lease of cars, including Lamborghinis. Rahim also made numerous withdrawals totaling over $1.1 million in amounts just under $10,000, thereby evading currency transaction reporting requirements. Rahim has not filed a personal income tax return since 2012 despite earning over $34 million in gross income.
The total loss to the IRS from Rahim’s actions is estimated to be at least $4.4 million.
Investment Fraud Scheme
In addition to his tax fraud, Rahim was involved in an investment fraud scheme that targeted customers through automated trading bots and fraudulent claims of stock market success. Rahim marketed his products under various websites, including BotsforWealth, TradeAutomation, and CopyAndWin, charging customers subscription fees for access to his bots and the ability to copy his trades.
Rahim used social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, and Discord, to promote his services, claiming to generate large profits by beating the stock market every day. He boasted about his wealth, including posting images of luxury cars and his lavish home, and promised subscribers high returns, claiming his trades would generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit daily. However, Rahim’s trading activities were largely unsuccessful, and he lost more than $300,000 of his clients’ funds within an eight-month period.
Rahim’s fraudulent activities included posting fake endorsements on Discord to create the illusion of a large following and customer satisfaction. In reality, he lost over $500,000 from February 2021 to December 2022. Despite these losses, Rahim continued to collect at least $1.3 million in subscription fees from his customers.
Restitution and Forfeiture
As part of his sentence, Rahim was ordered to forfeit over $1.3 million in ill-gotten gains. He is also required to pay restitution to both the IRS for his tax fraud and to the victims of his investment fraud scheme.
The case was investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI, with prosecution handled by the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Trial Attorneys William Montague and Ashley Stein of the Tax Division, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Shartar, prosecuted Rahim for his crimes.
