IRS Criminal Investigations Leader to Direct New Fraud Office

The IRS has picked an official with experience in international criminal probes to head a new fraud enforcement office.

Damon Rowe will lead the newly created Fraud Enforcement Office starting starting this month, the IRS said Thursday. Tax fraud is a top priority for the agency.

• Rowe started as a special agent in the agency’s Criminal Investigation division in 1998, where he worked his way up to executive director of international operations, a post that involved coordination with foreign governments, according to the announcement.
• A government watchdog warned earlier this week that IRS enforcement of business identity theft falls short of fraud-prevention requirements.
• Rowe’s “exceptional leadership skills, background and expertise will strongly support agency determinations regarding the existence of fraud, and, just as important, determinations where a fraud referral should not occur,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a statement.