Former SC Rep. May from Lexington County charged with failing to pay taxes

COLUMBIA — Ex-Rep. RJ May, who pleaded guilty in September to sending videos of children being sexually abused, faces new charges of failing to pay his income taxes during his time in office.

The 39-year-old West Columbia Republican owes the state $14,637 for three years of income taxes he failed to file, according to arrest warrants the South Carolina Department of Revenue served May with Thursday. May remains in the Edgefield County Detention Center, awaiting sentencing on the federal child sexual abuse material charges.

May could face up to one year in state prison, a $10,000 fine or both for each of the three tax charges if convicted. That’s on top of the 25 to 100 years he could collectively face for all five charges of sending videos of children being sexually abused. Those five charges to which May pleaded guilty could also carry hefty penalties of up to $250,000 each.

May, a founding member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, owned and operated Ivory Tusk Consulting, which ran campaigns for likeminded candidates. From 2022 to 2024, May earned $323,000, according to a news release. He was first elected to the House in November 2020.

A House Ethics Committee investigation first turned up questions about May’s tax filings. The committee began its investigation in July, several weeks after police arrested May on the sexual abuse charges.

An investigation is usually the first step in expelling a House member, but May resigned his House seat in August, while the committee’s hired lawyers were still looking into his conduct. In requesting the ethics investigation, House Majority Leader Davey Hiott, R-Pickens, asked for a closer look into May’s financials, prompting a search of his state income tax filings.

That search came up empty, lawyers said last month when presenting their findings to the committee. The committee referred any potential criminal charges to the appropriate state agency, without clarifying the agencies involved.

Whether May filed federal income taxes remains unclear. Investigators did not attempt to get those records because the federal government did not have the same obligation to participate in a state-level investigation, committee attorneys said.

Also unclear is how much money May had when a judge assigned him a federal public defender. At the time, he claimed he had no assets but his truck, and in messages from jail, he weighed selling the truck to fund his defense.

May claimed from his jail cell that clients owed him thousands of dollars he could have used to hire a lawyer to defend him in federal court. The ethics committee’s lawyers questioned whether he disclosed this to the federal judge.

May ultimately fired his attorneys and opted to represent himself. He rehired his defense team for his sentencing trial, which is scheduled to take place Jan. 14.

Originally published at: https://scdailygazette.com/2025/11/20/former-sc-rep-may-charged-with-failing-to-pay-taxes/