IVIX Adds IRS and Industry Veterans to Leadership

Former IRS Chief of Criminal Investigation John "Don" Fort and tax fraud detection expert Deborah Pianko to join the growing company that gives tax administrations insights into shadow economy

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IVIX, the first AI-powered platform designed to help authorities address tax evasion at scale, announced John D. (Don) Fort and Deborah Pianko will join the company as Chief Business Officer and Director of Sales (North America). Mr. Fort brings to IVIX nearly 30 years in law enforcement for the federal government, including three years as Chief of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation (CI) Division. Ms. Pianko is a subject-matter expert in tax fraud detection and compliance issues and former Principal at SAS, an industry leader in analytics, artificial intelligence and data management. These two new additions join a talented and versatile team of AI management, intelligence and tax fraud experts helping tax agencies combat tax evasion in the shadow economy.

"We are excited to welcome this talented group of experts to IVIX at a transformational and challenging time for the global and digital economy," said Matan Fattal, co-founder and CEO of IVIX. "Each year, there is an estimated $20 trillion in untaxed income, which is only growing as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, online gambling, short-term rentals and other digital ventures offer new ways to earn and also avoid a tax burden. Don and Deborah's unparalleled expertise will play a critical role in IVIX's growth and leadership as we serve our established client base in North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and as we continue to bring on new customers looking to increase their efficiency and close the tax gap."

"With the challenges currently facing taxing authorities around the world, partnering with private industry firms with unique expertise is a key component to effective tax administration. IVIX offers a unique and innovative tool that tax agencies need to enhance their existing capabilities with technology to identify tax non-compliance," said Don Fort, former IRS CI Chief and IVIX's Chief Business Officer. "My experience as Chief of IRS-CI, where we effectively utilized private-public partnerships to root out tax fraud and tax non-compliance, led to groundbreaking work in data analytics and ultimately helped identify tax fraud and hold bad actors accountable. I look forward to continuing these important efforts by helping more tax agencies have access to the powerful IVIX platform."

"IVIX is a unique company in both its platform and mission, leveraging innovative AI-powered technology to help governments address tax avoidance and support public services," said Deborah Pianko, Director of Sales (North America) at IVIX. "Tax noncompliance in the shadow economy is one of the greatest challenges facing governments around the world and IVIX will help tax agencies get ahead of the game. I'm excited to join them in this next chapter of my career and look forward to leveraging my years of experience in the private and public sector to help our clients close the tax gap."

Don Fort was the Chief of IRS-CI from 2017 to 2020. Mr. Fort led the sixth largest U.S. law enforcement agency, managing a budget of over $625 million and a worldwide staff of approximately 3,000, including 2,100 special agents in 21 IRS field offices and 11 foreign countries. Mr. Fort's time in law enforcement included overseeing investigations of some of the most significant financial crimes involving tax evasion, sanctions evasion, money laundering, bribery, international corruption, bank malfeasance, cyber and cryptocurrency crimes, and terrorist financing. Prior to Don's leadership roles at the IRS, he served as Director of Field operations at the agency.

Deborah Pianko is a subject-matter expert in tax and revenue operations focused on tax fraud detection and compliance issues. She comes to IVIX with nearly 25 years of experience of IT management and consulting, helping state and local tax agencies with data analytics, tax fraud detection, collections, returns processing and public outreach. Prior to her role at IVIX, Deborah worked in senior management roles at some of the tax industry's most prominent IT management and consulting firms including SAS and Accenture. She also previously served in the public sector as Director of Application Development at the District of Columbia's Office of Tax and Revenue.

IVIX helps tax authorities gain insight into the shadow economy so they can strengthen compliance and support public services. With off-the-shelf solutions for high-priority use cases, the IVIX platform provides tax authorities complete and continuous visibility into the shadow economy that's estimated to reach $20 trillion annually around the world. Powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning, IVIX gathers and enriches publicly available business activity data to accurately identify businesses, their revenue, and the taxpayer entities. Visit: https://www.ivix.ai/

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SOURCE IVIX