Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard Sentenced to 22 Yearsin Prison for Tax Fraud, Bank Fraud, Money Laundering

Source- http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111105.htm

WASHINGTON - Thomas E. Parenteau of Hilliard, Ohio, was sentenced today to 22 years in prison for conspiring with his wife, his mistress and their accountant, to commit tax fraud and money laundering, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Parenteau was also sentenced for conspiring to obstruct justice and tamper with witnesses.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Michael H. Watson ordered that Parenteau serve five years of supervised release and pay $1,100 in special assessments. Judge Watson also ordered Parenteau to pay restitution to the IRS and to the defrauded banks and that the amount would be determined in the next 90 days. The court further ordered Parenteau to forfeit to the United States an amount of nearly $15 million, consisting of his father’s life insurance policies and two money judgments.

According to court testimony and documents presented during the eight-week trial in the Southern District of Ohio, Parenteau and his co-conspirators defrauded the IRS out of nearly $1 million and defrauded banks into lending more than $40 million to Parenteau, his nominees and others. The evidence proved that Parenteau, who operated and controlled a number of Columbus, Ohio-area businesses, and Dennis G. Sartain, Parenteau’s accountant, prepared and filed with the IRS four false income tax returns for Parenteau’s mistress, Pamela McCarty, who is the mother of his two children. The false returns generated more than $850,000 in fraudulent refunds that she ultimately gave to Parenteau.

In addition, Parenteau, his wife Marsha Parenteau, Sartain and McCarty engaged in a scheme designed to defraud banks out of millions of dollars by falsely inflating the purchase prices of the homes that Parenteau built and sold. Parenteau paid large concealed or disguised kickbacks to the buyers after their purchases. The Parenteaus, along with McCarty, also fraudulently obtained $18 million in loans against a 27,000-square-foot home, by falsely representing their income and submitting other false documents regarding the renovation to the home. Parenteau used these funds to make more than $6 million in premium payments on four life insurance policies worth $23 million on the life of Thomas Parenteau’s father, who passed away on April 4, 2009.

Finally, after learning of the IRS investigation into the tax, bank fraud and money laundering schemes, Parenteau, McCarty, Sartain and others engaged in a scheme to obstruct justice by concealing computers, creating false documents, destroying or altering evidence, tampering with a witness, lying to federal and local investigators, and otherwise obstructing justice.

************************************************************************

Report IRS Tax Fraud by Calling 1-888-482-6825 or by visiting

www.irsrewards.com