A Florida man was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $4.3 million for willfully failing to pay over employment taxes and willfully failing to file individual income tax returns, the Justice Department announced Friday.

According to the DOJ, Paul Walczak controlled a network of interconnected health-care companies and employed over 600 people, paying over $24 million annually in payroll. For more than a decade, Walczak failed to comply with his tax obligations, instead using the withheld taxes to enrich himself, purchasing a yacht and making personal purchases at luxury retailers.

From 2016 through 2019, Walczak ...