WASHINGTON – Gino Carlucci was sentenced to 188 months in prison for his role in conspiracies to commit money laundering and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and for filing a false income tax return, the Justice Department and the IRS announced today. On July 25, 2011, a federal jury in Phoenix convicted Carlucci of both conspiracies and the tax crime after an eight-day trial.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Carlucci and his co-defendant, Wayne Mounts, stole large sums of money and assets from Joseph Flickinger, a tax return preparer in Ohio who had himself defrauded multiple clients of their life savings in a fraudulent investment scheme. Flickinger pleaded guilty to federal charges in a separate case and was sentenced to 70 months in prison. After defrauding Flickinger of the money, Carlucci and Mounts devised a scheme to have Flickinger arrested by federal officials, and then used the money for their own personal benefit. In addition to money, Carlucci and Mounts defrauded Flickinger out of several high-end vehicles and a condo near Lake Erie, Ohio, which they quickly sold for $210,000. Carlucci had some of the funds transferred into bank accounts held in the name of his wife and father-in-law. Carlucci’s wife and Mounts withdrew more than $300,000 in cash over several months in increments of $10,000 or less so that they could avoid having the bank report their withdrawals to authorities. Carlucci and Mounts spent an additional $150,000 of the funds to buy a 43-foot luxury boat whose existence Carlucci concealed from the government for over two years.
“This sentence demonstrates that those who would hide assets and income from the IRS using phony identifications and bogus documents, all for the purpose of enriching themselves, will be properly punished for their crimes,” said Kathryn Keneally, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
“Today, Mr. Carlucci was held accountable for his criminal behavior,” said Richard Weber, Chief IRS Criminal Investigation. “He's nothing more than a con man motivated by greed. His sentencing is a victory for honest taxpaying citizens.”
No comments:
Post a Comment