Federal Prison for Tax Fraud – Laura Figueroa What Were You Thinking?

You can’t commit a crime and assume that you won’t get caught. I tried it and it didn’t work. So, today I commit myself to sharing the message – Every choice has a consequence. I guess, however, I have been unsuccessful as Laura Figueroa, age 39, of Bristol, Connecticut was just sentenced to 5 years in federal prison for filing false claims on a tax return and mail fraud.

5 YEARS! You just can’t play with the IRS and assume you can win. You do reap what you sow…and Laura didn’t sow well.

FIGUEROA was involved in two schemes to defraud the federal and state governments. In the first scheme, FIGUEROA entered into an agreement and conspiracy to defraud the United States by obtaining or assisting others to obtain the payment of false and fraudulent claims for tax refunds. As part of the conspiracy, FIGUEROA and others prepared false Form W-2s and submitted them to commercial tax preparers for fraudulent refunds. FIGUEROA and others also conspired to prepare false tax returns, claiming false refunds by electronically filing returns with false income and tax withholding information. Over the course of the conspiracy, 59 false tax returns were submitted, reflecting three refund claims totaling $267,541, of which $181,641 was paid by the Internal Revenue Service.

Now one would think that if you’re going to defraud the government, it would be by some means other than the obvious. Perhaps FIGUEROA wasn’t that smart. Preparing false documents just isn’t bright. It’s pretty obvious that eventually the IRS would figure out that the refund they were sending didn’t match up against the real documents produced. Likewise, although the information isn’t clear, one would assume that the refunds were coming to one or more similar addresses. Now that doesn’t make sense either.

n the second scheme, FIGUEROA defrauded the Connecticut Department of Labor by filing false claims for unemployment insurance. FIGUEROA and others filed with the Connecticut Department of Labor various forms that established the registration of two companies, Bad Boyz Cleaning and Rough Edges, LLC, for the purposes of collecting unemployment taxes and the paying of unemployment insurance claims filed by employees. FIGUEROA filed false forms reporting several individuals as employees of those companies, and false wages earned by those individuals, when, in fact, those individuals were not employed by the companies. Thereafter, FIGUEROA and her associates filed fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance compensation on behalf of individuals who were not employed by the companies. The Connecticut Department of Labor paid benefits of approximately $130,000 in response to fraudulent claims made on behalf of individuals alleged to have been employees of the companies.

Now, based on the first scheme…I am not surprised at FIGUEROA – she’s just not too bright. But, when you read the rest of the story – it will all come together.

As a national speaker on white collar crime – I find it amazing the types and methods that people use to commit the crimes mentioned. The fact is – you reap what you sow. Good seeds produce a good harvest and bad seeds produce pain.

THE REST OF THE STORY: Since April 2005, FIGUEROA has been incarcerated on state larceny, credit card fraud, identity theft, and risk of injury to a minor charges. She has been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of over $300,000 and the 60-month federal sentence will commence following FIGUEROA’s release from state custody.

Not a bright future!

Former Connecticut Man – Karl Ramonas – Guilty of Fraudulent Investment Scheme

Let me invest your money! Oh, and by the way, did I tell you the investment isn’t real? Seems this is true and what KARL RAMONAS, age 42, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida (formerly of Waterbury, Connecticut) plead guilty to.

According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, between January 2001 and January 2002, RAMONAS executed a fraudulent scheme to induce individuals to give him money by falsely representing that he would invest the money in an investment account on their behalf.

RAMONAS did not invest the funds. Rather, he took the majority of the funds and converted them to his own use. Further, he told investors that the investments had increased in value when there was nothing to increase.

According to the news release from the US Attorney’s office: RAMONAS falsely represented to investors on January 31, 2001 that the investment account had increased in value when, in fact, more than 85 percent of the funds that were invested in the investment account had been lost. In addition, RAMONAS tricked investors into believing that their money had been and would be used as promised by returning some money to certain investors and falsely representing that it was a profit resulting from an increase in the value of the investment account. The returns to investors, however, were monies received from new and current investors, and were not profits resulting from an increase in the value of the investment account.

This is nothing more than a simple PONZI scheme and one that is sure to collapse. As a business ethics and white collar crime speaker, I know full well the impact of such a scheme. It is that very crime for which I was convicted and spent time in federal prison. While I am not proud of my past – it is my past and one that helped me learn a great deal.

Mistakes can be one of the greatest sources of learning. Do all people learn from their mistakes? NO! However, when we do learn – the learning is often permanent. Today, I serve as a Senior Sales Executive in a public company and travel the nation speaking to groups about the Truth About Consequences. Here are two universal facts: (1) you reap what you sow; and (2) every choice has a consequence.

Make good choices and enjoy the rewards that follow.

Business ethics speaker – Chuck Gallagher – signing off…

Crack vs. Cocaine – The Great Prison Release Debate! Prospective from a Former Federal Inmate

It was 1995, October 2nd to be exact, when I took 23 steps and entered federal prison. The world I knew was behind me as I entered a foreign world – one in which I had no experience and, frankly, wanted none. I didn’t want to be there.

But, every choice has a consequence. And, I was on a journey to experience the consequences of the choices I had made almost ten years earlier. I became – 11642-058 – an inmate in federal prison for the crimes I committed when I was much younger and certainly more foolish.

Federal prison is an education in and unto itself. While I was placed at a minimum security facility, I expected to be surrounded by a host of other white collar criminals. WRONG! 70+% of the inmates that were there were convicted for drug related crimes. Most were black, some Hispanic – the minority were white and across the board the crime of choice – drugs.

There were two things I was to learn from first hand experience while there: (1) without fail – crack – convictions carried a substantially longer sentence and were found among black inmates; and (2) in those days gun related charges were common and tacked on an extra 5 years.

I heard over and over – “it’s just not fair.” The issue of “fairness” in federal prison at the time, was not over black vs white, but rather over the difference in sentencing guidelines related to the form the drug “cocaine” took – powder vs. rock (crack).

Let me say, for those of you who are consistent readers, I don’t do drugs and don’t condone drugs. What I do focus on are the choices that we make and the consequences that follow. My cellmate – Buck – was convicted for crack and a gun charge. For that he received 10 years.

Here’s the interesting part – toward the end of his sentence, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of changing how the issue of guns play into ones sentence. In Buck’s case, there was an old shotgun in the house (his grandfathers) where he was arrested. Since it was there – he got a gun charge which added 5 years. The gun was not used in the commission of any crime. But in those days, just being around a gun was enough to get extra time. In Buck’s case – his sentence was reduced due to the Supreme Court’s ruling – of course, he had served most of his sentence by then. Had the decision come down sooner, his sentence would have been cut in half. Buck’s sentence for Crack was 5 years. Had he been convicted for cocaine (powder) he would have received 18 months – the same sentence I received.

So where does race come in? Well, it doesn’t but it does. It isn’t that the law is targeted to blacks (I know some will disagree with me on that – please comment), but rather the law is targeted to the substance. Crack, while a form of cocaine, is more addictive and destructive than it’s powder cousin. Hence, the law was, initially designed to punish those who created more destruction with the substance. Where the disparity comes in is – crack is cheap and hence more readily used in the black community. Cheap, easy to transport and available means that those who sell and use get arrested – hence, more blacks in prison.

Well…as reported in many areas – all that changed with a new Supreme Court’s decision (details here) back in December. So here we are in March 2008 and the first of what could be many federal inmates will be released as their sentences are being reviewed.

There are those who say that this is wrong – that many hardened criminals will be released back into society to continue to do harm. Others point out that many are first time offenders and should never have had the time they were given in the first place. Some say that prison is what makes them hardened criminals. I must say that I learned more about crime while in than I ever would have known otherwise.

Here’s a reality check. Buck was sentenced to 10 years for crack and a gun. When I entered federal prison by luck (at least for me) he was my cell mate. Buck was a mere 18 when he was placed into the system. He sold crack on the street because he could make more as a young black kid selling than he could working at McDonalds (assuming they would hire him). But, Buck had more integrity than most people I did business with before joining the ranks of federal prisoner.

Buck taught me how to survive in prison and I taught Buck how to speak so that when he got out he could get a real job. I got out before Buck. After the first Supreme Court’s decision related to gun charges, Buck found his sentence reduced and freedom his. We maintained contact and I helped Buck get his first job on the outside.

We are both marked for life. But, to those who say that a bunch of criminals well be freed to wreak more havoc, I disagree. Sure some will – it might be their nature. But, I am free today and a productive member of society. So is Buck! My hat is off to him, because if it were 10 years later he would have only had to serve a few years to pay for his crime.

Final Comments: To those who are released or to those families who receive back into society your loved ones. Give them time to heal and re-enter society. It isn’t easy. Likewise, if you’re getting out…remember – Every choice has a consequence. MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

Ethics and White Collar Crime Speaker – Chuck Gallagher - signing off…