Wayne A. Mounts Sentenced to More Than 5 Years in Prison in Money Laundering and Tax Scheme

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/2012/txdv12024.htm 

WASHINGTON – Wayne A. Mounts, a resident of Mesa, Ariz., was sentenced yesterday to 63 months in prison for his role in conspiracies to commit money laundering and to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), announced the Justice Department and the IRS today. On July 25, 2011, a federal jury in Phoenix convicted Mounts and his co-defendant, Gino Carlucci, of both conspiracies after an eight-day trial.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Mounts and Carlucci, stole large sums of money from Joseph Flickinger and Flickinger’s clients and associates. Flickinger was a tax return preparer who had himself been sentenced in 2007 to 70 months in prison following a guilty plea to tax fraud conspiracy, as well as mail and wire fraud charges. Flickinger’s mail and wire fraud convictions related to a Ponzi-style investment scheme through which he had defrauded his clients.

After defrauding Flickinger of the money he obtained by fraud, Mounts and Carlucci used the money for their own personal benefit. Mounts withdrew more than $250,000 in cash from a bank account over a two-month period. He withdrew the money in amounts just under $10,000 to avoid having the bank report his withdrawals to authorities. Mounts and Carlucci spent an additional $150,000 of the funds to buy a 43-foot luxury boat which Carlucci concealed from the government for over two years.

Judge Kathryn H. Vratil, Chief Judge of the District of Kansas, sitting in Phoenix by special designation, ordered Mounts to pay $686,841 in restitution to the victims in Flickinger’s case and $80,787.80 in restitution to the IRS. Judge Vratil further entered a forfeiture order against Mounts for a money judgment in the amount of $722,841.00.

Sentencing for Gino Carlucci is set for Feb. 28, 2012, before Judge Vratil in Phoenix. Carlucci faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering; five years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States; and three years in prison for filing a false tax return.

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Lutoyua N. Thompson and Melinda M. Lambert Sentenced to Prison for Preparing False Tax Returns

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-tax-028.html 

Judge Mark Fuller of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama sentenced Lutoyua N. Thompson and Melinda M. Lambert to prison today for their involvement in a fraudulent tax return preparation scheme, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Thompson was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Lambert was sentenced to six months in prison and six months of home confinement. Both had previously pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return.

According to the court documents, both Thompson and Lambert were employed by James E. Moss as tax return preparers at a tax return preparation business known as Flash Tax, located in Montgomery, Ala. Thompson was employed at Flash Tax from December 2003 through June 2005 and prepared approximately 600 tax returns. Lambert was employed at Flash Tax from December 2004 through January 2007 and prepared approximately 900 tax returns. The majority of the returns prepared by Lambert and Thompson contained false information designed to illegally obtain higher refunds to which clients were not entitled. Lambert and Thompson admitted that Moss trained them to prepare false tax returns in order to obtain higher tax refunds for Flash Tax customers by inflating or deflating specific numbers and/or by adding totally fictitious numbers to the returns.

On Nov. 2, 2011, Moss was convicted by an Alabama jury of conspiring to defraud the United States and of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns. His sentencing is currently set for March 13, 2012.

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Pleads Guilty to Identity Theft and Tax Charges

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-tax-025.html 

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that Loretta Fergerson pleaded guilty today before Magistrate Judge Charles S. Coody in Montgomery, Ala., to conspiring to defraud the United States government, wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Fergerson and a co-defendant were charged by a grand jury in a 22-count indictment that was unsealed on March 30, 2011.

According to the plea agreement, Fergerson owned and operated a tax return preparation business called Fast Tax Cash in Montgomery. From 2005 through 2008, Fergerson and her employees filed tax returns using stolen identities in order to claim fraudulent tax refunds. Additionally, Fergerson admitted that she and her employees filed tax returns for Fast Tax Cash clients that contained false information on the tax return in order to obtain higher refunds for customers to which they were not entitled. Fergerson further admitted that she created false driver’s licenses and false Social Security cards to be placed in customer files for returns that were prepared using stolen identities.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Fergerson faces a maximum potential sentence of 32 years in prison and fines of up to $750,000.

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Mark G. Marino was Sentenced Today to 13 Months in Prison for Four Counts of Filing False Income Tax Returns

Source-  http://www.fbi.gov/philadelphia/press-releases/2012/former-skippack-township-official-sentenced-for-tax-fraud 

PHILADELPHIA—Mark G. Marino, 41, of Collegeville, PA, was sentenced today to 13 months in prison for four counts of filing false income tax returns for 2003 through 2006. Marino, a former member of the Skippack Township Board of Supervisors. Marino pleaded guilty September 21, 2011. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo C. Robreno ordered Marino to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $76,382, a fine of $3,000 and one year of supervised release. He was ordered to report to prison February 20, 2012.

Marino was a principal with David Kane in a real estate investment company, Kane Core Inc.(“KCI”), and also owned and operated Marino Landscape and Design and Marino Holdings, Inc. Kane was also indicted as were John D. Kane, Gregory M. Kane, and Jamie E.E. Baugher. During 2004, Marino received approximately $48,333 in income from KCI which he did not report on his 2004 income tax return. Marino also had personal bills and obligations paid by both KCI and Marino Landscape & Design from 2003 through 2006, none of which was reported to the government. The payments Marino received included Eagles tickets, gentlemen’s clubs expenditures, golf memberships and expenditures, vacations, a housekeeper, restaurant bills, grocery bills, and credit card expenditures for clothing, jewelry and other personal items.

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New York Return Preparer Howard Levine Pleads Guilty to Preparing False Tax Returns

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-tax-012.html 

WASHINGTON – The owner of a Dix Hill, N.Y., tax preparation business pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, N.Y., to endeavoring to obstruct the internal revenue laws and aiding in the preparation of false income tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

According to court documents, Howard Levine owned and operated Milaur Associates, also known as Milaur Inc. Many of the tax returns prepared by Levine for 2004 through 2009 were false and contained fictitious deductions, business expenses and corporate losses created by Levine. Levine admitted to preparing no fewer than 56 false returns, resulting in a tax loss of $620,844.

In order to obstruct and impede the IRS from determining his role in preparing the returns, Levine included false information in the paid preparer section of the return he prepared. Despite the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issuing an injunction in 2009 that barred Levine from preparing federal tax returns for anyone other than himself, Levine violated the injunction by continuing to prepare false returns.

Levine faces a potential maximum sentence of six years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000. U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco, who is presiding over the matter, set a sentencing date of April 26, 2012.

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Ronald E. Burrell a Former Chief Executive Officer of Caremerica Inc., Pleaded Guilty Today to Conspiring to Defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/January/12-tax-004.html 

WASHINGTON - Ronald E. Burrell, former chief executive officer of Caremerica Inc., pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department announced. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 9, 2012. Burrell is a resident of Wilmington, N.C.

According to the charging document, Burrell co-owned and operated a chain of assisted living facilities (ALFs) in North and South Carolina. The ALFs were managed by Caremerica Inc., a company based in Leland, N.C., that Burrell also partly owned and operated. Burrell was the president and CEO for Caremerica, the Caremerica ALFs and other related companies. As a corporate officer, Burrell was responsible for ensuring that the Caremerica companies collected, reported and paid over federal employment taxes to the IRS. However, with Burrell at the helm, the Caremerica companies accrued more than $4.5 million in employment tax liabilities between approximately 2003 and 2006. Among other things, Burrell filed, or caused to be filed, false IRS forms that reported full payment of the employment taxes due, when in fact only a small fraction of the taxes, or none at all, were paid.

The charging document further alleges that in 2003, Burrell acquired partial ownership of Partners Pharmacy Services Inc. (PPS), which provided prescription drug and related services to the Caremerica ALFs. In April 2005, Burrell sold PPS to a subsidiary of Omnicare Inc. At the closing, Burrell received $1.6 million. The PPS sale proceeds were disbursed at a time when the IRS was attempting to collect unpaid employment taxes from the Caremerica companies, as well as from Burrell personally. To prevent the IRS from discovering the PPS proceeds, Burrell took active steps to conceal them.

At his hearing before Judge James C. Fox, sitting in Wilmington, Burrell agreed that he should be ordered to pay restitution of $4.8 million.

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Johnny “Mickey” Brown Sentenced to 130 Months in Ponzi Scheme and Tax Evasion

Source-  http://www.fbi.gov/portland/press-releases/2011/vacuum-cleaner-distributor-sentenced-to-130-months-in-ponzi-scheme 

ORTLAND, OR—Today U.S. District Judge Garr M. King sentenced Johnny “Mickey” Brown, 59, of Beaverton, Oregon, to 130 months in federal prison following a jury trial that concluded on May 11, 2011. The federal jury found Brown guilty of all 14 counts in an indictment charging him with wire fraud, false statement to a financial institution, and tax evasion. After release from the Bureau of Prisons, Brown will serve five years on supervised release.

“The office of the United States Attorney will prosecute those who prey on the elderly and other vulnerable victims to the full extent of the law,” stated U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall. “Brown is a con man who abused the victims in this case, both financially and emotionally. Many of the victims lost their life savings and some lost their homes. All of the victims experienced a loss of dignity and trust. We are pleased that he will be spending the next ten years in prison where he won’t be able to take advantage of anyone for a very long time.”

The evidence presented at trial proved that Johnny “Mickey” Brown fraudulently obtained credit cards from unsuspecting victims, many of whom were elderly or financially naïve, who believed they were investing in vacuum cleaner inventory for a profitable business. Once he secured the victims’ cards through false promises of no-risk dividends based upon the sale of the vacuum inventory, he immediately obtained all the available credit balance from each card. Brown did this by running the cards through a U.S. Bank Merchant Point of Sale terminal and falsely disguised each transaction as a sale of merchandise when, in fact, he didn’t sell anything at all. Each of these pretext or “fake” sales caused U.S. Bank to automatically deposit the amount of the fraudulent sale entered in the credit card machine into defendant Brown’s business bank account.

Brown used the money he obtained from his scheme for personal and business expenses. The largest business expense was the monthly debt service on 596 credit cards and payments of “dividends” to the many victim investors. These payments had to be made in order to extend the life of the Ponzi scheme. While some of the money was used to pay regular business expenses, the vast majority went to fund the scheme and for Brown’s personal use, including an elegant home and wardrobe, private education for his children, high-end vehicles, and large donations to the Living Water Christian Assembly in Albany, Oregon.

U.S. Bank froze Brown’s business accounts in March 2003. The account was frozen, not due to the credit card activity, but in response to U.S. Bank’s recognition that Brown was receiving the proceeds of, and making monthly payments on, U.S. Bank loans in excess of $232,000 to 17 customers. Brown then frantically attempted to run $1,000,000 in fake refunds on many of the hundreds of victim credit card accounts he had improperly charged. U.S. Bank’s credit card processing office detected this activity and reversed the fraudulent refunds.

At that point, Brown orchestrated a massive campaign to dispute over 1,000 prior fake sales by submitting false “credit slip” documents to the various credit card companies. Some victims cooperated with Brown’s credit slip effort, while some did not. Brown succeeded in charging back a total of $4,241,941 in fake sales to U.S. Bank. Ordinarily, merchant charge backs would have been charged against the merchant’s business account. But since Brown’s account had long since been depleted and closed, U.S. Bank was forced to absorb the full loss. Individual victims also lost significant sums of money when their credit card companies refused to credit the victim’s accounts.

While carrying out this scheme, the evidence proved that Brown was also evading the payment of federal taxes due on 1993-1995 tax returns he had signed and filed, self-assessing a total tax due of $130,871. He never paid any part of that tax. In order to evade payment of the tax debt, Brown conducted his business and bought and sold assets through nominees. In order to further hide income from the IRS, Brown ran his credit card fraud scheme by use of a credit card processing agreement and bank accounts set up in the name of an employee. He directed the employee to set up a business entity, open bank accounts and set up a merchant credit card processing agreement for his use. The employee was listed as the owner of defendant Brown’s finance company and those bank accounts as well. All of his business was done through bank accounts in the name of the employee and others.

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Lamar Ellis of Brea Falsely Claimed to Have Billions of Dollars of Tax Credits to Sell

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111711.htm 

WASHINGTON – A federal court in Los Angeles has permanently barred Lamar Ellis of Brea, Calif., from promoting a scheme involving sales of bogus federal tax credits, the Justice Department announced today. According to the government’s complaint, Ellis fraudulently claimed to have billions of dollars in federal research tax credits that the United States supposedly granted him for purported scientific breakthroughs.

The suit alleged that Ellis advertised the sale of these bogus credits on the Internet and issued phony documents to people purporting to give them credits that could reduce their tax obligations. The government also alleged that Ellis partnered with the Southwest Louisiana Business Development Center, a nonprofit organization in Jennings, La., to try to sell $24 billion of the fictitious credits.

The civil injunction order entered against Ellis bars him from telling prospective customers that he can transfer tax credits to them. He is also required to give the government a list of the names, addresses and social security or tax identification numbers of everyone to whom he purported to distribute tax credits.

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Federal Court Bars Delois Warren From Preparing Federal Tax Returns for Others

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111676.htm 

WASHINGTON – A federal court in Mobile, Ala., has permanently barred Delois Warren from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Judge Kristi K. DuBose of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama issued the permanent injunction order.

The government complaint in the case alleged that Warren of Greensboro claimed bogus earned-income tax credits and first-time-homebuyer credits for her customers through her business, Branjalo Tax Service. According to the complaint, Warren prepared income tax returns for some customers falsely claiming that they were engaged in profitable businesses in order to maximize refunds based on the earned-income tax credit. The complaint also states that Warren claimed the first-time-homebuyer credit on at least 190 returns in 2009. In examples cited in the complaint, Warren claimed the credit for as much as $8,000 for customers who did not purchase houses in 2008.

The civil injunction order requires Warren to mail a copy of the order to all persons for whom she has prepared a federal tax return since Jan. 1, 2007, and to give the government a list of those customers.

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David A. Cusumano of Plymouth Sentenced to Jail for Tax Fraud Scheme

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111672.htm 

WASHINGTON – David A. Cusumano of Plymouth, Mich., and Henry Nino, a resident of Northville, Mich., were sentenced today following their pleas of guilty to tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced today. District Court Judge Gerald E. Rosen, presiding in Detroit, sentenced Cusumano to 15 months and Nino to 18 months in prison. Judge Rosen also imposed three years of supervised release for each defendant.

According to court documents, Cusumano was a mechanical engineer who worked at various companies throughout Michigan. Nino was an electrician with an automotive company. Despite earning substantial income in their respective jobs, for multiple years, Cusumano and Nino failed to file income tax returns and failed to pay taxes due and owing to the IRS, Cusumano during the calendar years 2003-2008 and Nino during the calendar years 2004-2008. Both men successfully prevented their employers from withholding federal income taxes from their wages by submitting false IRS Forms W-4 to their employers on which they falsely claimed they were “exempt” from income tax withholding. A Form W-4 is a document that an employee submits to an employer to assist the employer in withholding the correct amount of income taxes from the employee’s pay.

The plea agreements state that in addition to failing to file income tax returns and submitting false Forms W-4 to their employers, the two men also attempted to prevent the IRS from determining their tax liabilities and collecting their unpaid taxes by participating in several obstructive schemes. Both men paid tax fraud promoters, including a Florida-based organization called American Rights Litigators/Guiding Light of God Ministries to submit frivolous and obstructive correspondence to the IRS and to the defendants’ employers, including false complaints that wrongly accused IRS employees of criminal activity. Cusumano and Nino also submitted multiple fake financial instruments to the IRS in a failed attempt to pay off their outstanding tax debts.

Court documents state that Nino also attempted to prevent the IRS from collecting his unpaid taxes for the years 1996, 1997 and 2000-2003 by, among other things, transferring title of his personal residence to a nominee entity called the Michigan Natural Group, using money orders to make mortgage payments and cashing paychecks rather than depositing them in a bank account.

Cusumano caused a tax loss to the government of $390,145. Nino’s conduct resulted in a tax loss of $366,088. Under the terms of their plea agreements, both are required to make restitution to the IRS in the amount of their unpaid taxes.

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Bruce Gregory Harrison III Pleads Guilty of Failing to Pay Moro Than $15 Million in Payroll Taxes for Temporary Staffing Companies

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111691.htm 

WASHINGTON – Bruce Gregory Harrison III was convicted yesterday following a jury trial in federal court in Winston-Salem, N.C., announced the Department of Justice. Harrison had been charged in a 63-count indictment with large-scale payroll tax fraud and failure to file individual income tax returns. The evidence at trial proved that Harrison failed to pay over more than $15 million dollars in federal taxes withheld from the pay of his thousands of employees in the years 2004-2006 and 2009.

“Mr. Harrison not only defrauded his own employees, but he defrauded the American people as well,” said Ripley Rand, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina. “This sort of conduct is intolerable, especially during these difficult economic times, and we will do everything we can to make sure it is punished accordingly.”

“Honest, hard-working taxpayers count on their payroll deductions for Social Security and Medicare being paid over to fund their retirement and health care needs,” said John A. DiCicco, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “They should rest assured that those who would steal those funds will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

“The IRS-Criminal Investigation Division takes these violations of law very seriously. Payroll tax fraud results in the loss of tax revenue to the United States government and the loss of future social security or Medicare benefits for the employees,” said Victor S.O. Song, Chief of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – Criminal Investigation.

According to the trial evidence and other documents filed in the case, Harrison, a resident of Greensboro, N.C., did business under various corporate names including U.S.A. Staffing and Compensation Management Inc. He owned or controlled temporary staffing companies operating in at least nine states. Harrison’s staffing companies were headquartered in Guilford County, N.C., and contracted with client businesses to provide temporary workers. Harrison’s companies promised to assume full responsibility for the payment of wages and the withholding and transmitting of taxes to the IRS for those employees. Instead, Harrison failed to account for and pay over in excess of $15 million in federal payroll taxes for the employees of those companies. The evidence at trial showed that Harrison caused false bank statements to be presented to auditors to conceal the nonpayment of the payroll taxes.

Harrison was also convicted of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the IRS by means of false statements to IRS revenue officers. Evidence established he had used company funds to purchase personal residences, to buy a yacht and to finance commercial motion pictures, including National Lampoon’s Pucked and Home of the Giants. Harrison was also convicted of failing to timely file his own income tax returns for 2004, 2005 and 2006. Following the jury verdict, Chief Judge James A. Beaty Jr. ordered Harrison detained. Sentencing is scheduled for April 6, 2012, at 9:30 a.m. in Winston-Salem.

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Indicted for Corruptly Interfering With the IRS and Filing False Tax Returns

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111662.htm 

WASHINGTON – An indictment was unsealed today charging Jack Ray Carr of Baton Rouge, La., with one count of corruptly interfering with the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, four counts of filing false income tax returns, and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false income tax return, the Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) announced.

According to the indictment filed against him, Carr corruptly endeavored to obstruct and impede the tax laws by filing false documents and tax returns with the IRS and by attempting to intimidate IRS employees. The indictment also alleges that Carr made and subscribed to false federal income tax returns, IRS Forms 1040, for 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. In particular, the tax return Carr filed for 2005 falsely reported $112,142 of federal income tax withholdings based on fictitious IRS Forms 1099-OID (Original Issue Discount) attached to the Form 1040.

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Sentenced to 94 Months in Prison for Stealing Identities of Student Loan Borrowers

Source-  http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111695.htm 

WASHINGTON – Janika Fernae Bates, a resident of Millbrook, Ala., was sentenced today in the Middle District of Alabama to 94 months in federal prison for stealing identities of student loan borrowers and providing them to a co-conspirator, who used them to file false tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

On Sept. 23, 2011, a jury in Montgomery, Ala., convicted Bates of identity theft, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to make false claims for tax refunds.

According to evidence introduced at the five day trial, Bates obtained the names and Social Security numbers of student loan borrowers from the databases at her former employer and conspired to use the stolen identifying information to steal money from the government and from a bank. Several victims testified that they did not consent to the use of their names and Social Security numbers on tax returns and they testified that they did not receive any money from refunds generated from the false documents filed with the IRS. Evidence also revealed that Bates and her co-conspirator, Keshia Brayboy, fraudulently obtained refund anticipation loans from a bank predicated on the fraudulently filed tax returns. Brayboy pleaded guilty in 2009 to filing a false tax return and served two years in federal prison.

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Belinda Cheri McKinney Sentenced on Mortgage Loan Fraud and Tax Fraud Offenses

Source-  http://www.fbi.gov/springfield/press-releases/2011/metro-east-woman-sentenced-on-mortgage-loan-fraud-and-tax-fraud-offenses 

A metro-east resident was sentenced yesterday, December 13, 2011, in the United States District Court in East St. Louis, for participating in a conspiracy to defraud the United States and evade the payment of federal income taxes and for making false statements on a mortgage loan application, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Belinda Cheri McKinney, 43, was sentenced to 37 months’ imprisonment.

Court documents indicate that the McKinney brothers owned and operated McKinney Hauling, a construction business located in East St. Louis, Illinois. In 2003, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) began pursuing the brothers for unpaid taxes. The McKinney brothers evaded the payment of their tax obligations for the tax years 1999-2000, and 2002-2006, by diverting business income from McKinney Hauling into nominee bank accounts, which were used to pay personal and household expenses. Robert and John McKinney also admitted lying to federal officials about their business income and their home addresses. Belinda and Chamethele McKinney each pled guilty to falsifying mortgage loan documents while purchasing real estate—solely in their own names—so that business income earned by the husbands could be diverted into assets owned exclusively by their wives, thereby avoiding a combined IRS tax lien of $2,465,089.74, including penalties and interest.

On her loan application to purchase a house on Autumn Oaks Drive in Maryville, Belinda McKinney indicated that she was employed at McKinney Hauling, she was a full-time employee there for ten years, and she made $9,500 a month; all of which were false and misled the lender. Knowing that her husband Robert Todd McKinney had tax liens and poor credit, Belinda McKinney submitted the loan applications in her own name only. After closing, Belinda received a kickback of $49,990 from the seller, an amount above the actual cost of the house. The nominee account of Delta Construction, which Belinda McKinney opened, was used to make the mortgage payments. At sentencing, a special agent of the IRS testified that Belinda McKinney also filed tax returns separately from her husband but lied about being the “head of the household,” reserved for unmarried taxpayers, and misled the IRS by minimizing the household income so that she could obtain a tax refund for purported earned income credit.

Belinda Cheri McKinney was also sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $952,705.52 to the Internal Revenue Service, and ordered to pay $200 as a special assessment to the court.

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Igor Purlantov Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison for Wire Fraud, Tax Evasion

Source-  http://www.fbi.gov/sanfrancisco/press-releases/2011/attorney-sentenced-to-24-months-in-prison-for-wire-fraud-tax-evasion 

OAKLAND, CA—A New York attorney pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland today for fraudulently transferring more than $1 million from the bank accounts of a deceased Contra Costa County resident and then failing to pay taxes on that income, United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigations, Scott O’Briant announced.

Igor Purlantov pleaded guilty in front of United States District Court Judge Saundra B. Armstrong. Following the guilty plea, Judge Armstrong sentenced Purlantov to 24 months in prison.

In pleading guilty, Purlantov, 35, of New York, admitted to engaging in a scheme to defraud a deceased family friend by fraudulently adding himself on to the friend’s HSBC bank account in Geneva and then transferring more than $1 million to his own accounts in London before transferring some of the money to his accounts in New York. The scheme occurred from October 2004 through February 2005. The defendant then failed to pay taxes on the stolen income.

In his plea agreement, Purlantov accepted full responsibility and agreed to fully reimburse the beneficiaries of his deceased friend in the amount of $1,175,666 and to pay back taxes to the IRS in the amount of $293,048.25.

Purlantov was charged by information on June 9, 2011, with one count of wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, and one count of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201. He pleaded guilty to both counts.

Purlantov was ordered by Judge Armstrong to self surrender to begin his sentence on Jan. 27, 2012. The maximum statutory penalty for wire fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution. The maximum statutory penalty for tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, is five years in prison and $250,000 and restitution.

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Gary L. Johns Pleads Guilty to Kickback Scheme and Subscribing to a False Tax Return

Source-  http://www.fbi.gov/richmond/press-releases/2011/virginia-contractor-pleads-guilty-to-kickback-scheme-and-subscribing-to-a-false-tax-return 
WASHINGTON—A Virginia contractor pleaded guilty today to participating in a scheme to steer contracts to him for repair, maintenance and renovation work at healthcare and nursing home facilities owned by Medical Facilities of America Inc. (MFA), the Department of Justice announced.

According to a two-count felony charge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, Gary L. Johns, a resident of Salem, Va., conspired with other individuals to steer contracts for repair, maintenance and renovation at MFA healthcare and nursing home facilities throughout Virginia from about March 2006 until at least December 2006. The department said that as part of the conspiracy, an MFA employee who oversaw the bidding process for repair, maintenance and renovation contracts at MFA facilities steered contracts to Johns’ company, Salem Commercial Design, in return for kickbacks. According to the plea agreement, which is subject to court approval, Johns has agreed to cooperate with the department’s ongoing investigation.

According to the court document, the MFA employee created fictitious competitor bids that were higher than the quotes submitted by Johns and other co-conspirator venders, to create the false appearance of competition. The MFA employee directed subordinates to solicit quotes only from Johns. Johns paid more than $124,000 in kickbacks to the MFA employee and received MFA contracts totaling more than $1 million. The department said that as a result of the kickback scheme, MFA was deprived of competitive pricing to its financial detriment. Johns was also charged with making and subscribing to a false 2006 tax return, which is the year in which Johns received payment on the MFA contracts.

Johns is charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud for the kickback scheme, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine. Johns is also charged with making and subscribing to a false tax return, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine, together with the cost of prosecution. The maximum fines for each of these charges may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximums.

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Richard Stewart Pleads Guilty for Failing to Pay Employment Taxes

Source- http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/December/11-tax-1649.html

WASHINGTON – Richard Stewart, a resident of Mitchellville, Md., pleaded guilty today for failing to pay over employment taxes in connection with his ownership of Montgomery Mechanical Services, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

According to the plea agreement and criminal information, from at least 2003 through 2008, Stewart owned and operated Montgomery Mechanical Services, a company that installed plumbing, heating and air conditioning in commercial buildings and that had offices in Baltimore and Capitol Heights, Md. From 2003 through at least 2008, Stewart did not collect, truthfully account for and pay over approximately $3,969,337 of Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxes and federal income tax withholdings, commonly known as trust fund taxes, from his employees’ wages. According to the terms of the plea agreement, Stewart is required to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $5,414,647, which encompasses both the trust fund taxes that he failed to pay and his obligation, as an employer, to pay over a matching portion of FICA taxes.

Stewart faces a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

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Federal Court Has Permanently Barred Carmen Gonzalez From Preparing Federal Tax Returns for Others

Source- http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/December/11-tax-1644.html

WASHINGTON - A federal court has permanently barred Carmen Gonzalez from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Gonzalez consented without admitting wrongdoing, was signed by Judge Joel A. Pisano of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. According to the government complaint, Gonzalez, of Allentown, Pa., operates Carmen Tax Services in New Brunswick, N.J.

The complaint alleged that Gonzalez repeatedly failed to comply with due-diligence requirements imposed by federal law on tax preparers who claim the earned income tax credit (EITC) on their customers’ returns. According to the complaint, Gonzalez also falsified deductions and listed bogus dependents on her customers’ returns in order to claim the maximum EITC for them.

The court order requires Gonzalez to send a letter to all customers for whom she prepared a federal tax return since Jan. 1, 2005, informing them that she has agreed to the injunction and is no longer permitted to prepare tax returns for others.

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Pamela J. Whitson to Serve 30 Months in Prison and Pay $1.2 Million in Restitution for Embezzlement and Not Filing Income Tax Return

Source- http://www.fbi.gov/oklahomacity/press-releases/2011/norman-woman-to-serve-30-months-in-prison-and-pay-1.2-million-in-restitution-for-embezzlement-and-not-filing-income-tax-return?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=oklahoma-city-press-releases&utm_content=54783

OKLAHOMA CITY—PAMELA J. WHITSON, of Norman, Oklahoma, was sentenced yesterday to serve 30 months in federal prison for forging a check and failing to file a federal income tax return, in connection with her embezzling more than $960,000 from an Oklahoma City oil and gas company, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

At her plea hearing on July 7, 2011, Whitson admitted that she worked for several years as the office manager at an oil and gas company in Oklahoma City. From 2002 through 2008, she forged the signatures of authorized signers on checks drawn on the oil and gas company’s accounts. Whitson admitted she wrote many of the forged checks payable to herself or to cash, and used the embezzled funds mostly for gambling. At the plea hearing, Whitson also admitted that she did not claim any of the embezzled funds as income on tax returns. She pled guilty to forging a check and not filing an income tax return for the 2007 calendar year.

Yesterday, Chief United States District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange sentenced Whitson to 30 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Whitson was also ordered to pay $965,333.47 in restitution to the local oil and gas company, and $252,293.27 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

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Eddye Lovely Pleaded Guilty Today to Three Counts of Aiding and Assisting in The Preparation of False Tax Returns

Source- http://www.justice.gov/tax/txdv111621.htm

WASHINGTON – Eddye Lovely of Tomball, Texas, pleaded guilty today to three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced. Lovely appeared before U.S. District Judge Nancy F. Atlas in Houston.

According to the plea agreement, Lovely owned and operated a Houston return preparation business, called “The Tax Master,” at which he prepared false income tax returns that included certain false Schedule A itemized deductions that the client did not make and fraudulent Schedule C business losses that the clients did not operate.

After Lovely was indicted in April 2011 on 14 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, he persisted in the preparation of false tax returns despite a court order requiring him not to prepare any tax returns while on release in the case. According to the plea agreement, after his release, Lovely aided and assisted in the preparation of materially false 2010 tax returns for two additional clients. These tax returns were materially false in that they featured fabricated Schedule C losses for businesses that the taxpayers did not own or operate, as well as false or inflated Schedule A deductions for charitable contributions and/or job search costs.

The tax loss associated with the three counts to which Lovely pleaded guilty is $74,964. Lovely faces a maximum prison sentence of nine years and a fine of up to $750,000. Judge Atlas set sentencing for Feb. 29, 2012.

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