John M. Moore sentenced to Prison for Filing False Tax Returns

A tax preparer, John M. Moore, 53, was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for filing false tax returns that cost a Kansas company more than $744,000.

Moore pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return and one count of wire fraud. In his plea, he admitted a company he owns, Accent Payroll Services (APS), was hired to provide payroll processing services for Tytan International L.L.C. of Lenexa, Kan. From 2008 to 2010, APS was responsible for paying the wages of Tytan’s employees, withholding employment taxes, filing Tytan’s employment tax returns on Internal Revenue Service form 941 and paying withheld employment taxes to the IRS.

Moore transferred more than $2 million in employment tax withholdings from Tytan’s bank account to his company’s bank account. However, he only paid the IRS approximately $1.3 million. To keep Tytan from receiving notices from the IRS that taxes were not paid, Moore gave the IRS an address for Tytan at a post office box he controlled.

“These victims trusted Mr. Moore to properly remit their taxes, but instead he used their funds for his own purposes. Unfortunately, these victims are left holding the bag,” said Sybil Smith, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation. “Businesses who utilize a third party for paying their payroll taxes must realize that if the taxes aren’t paid, they are ultimately responsible for the tax liability. The IRS will work with victims to set up payment plans or possibly reduce penalties.”

Tax Fraud Scheme earns Georgia man Prison Sentence

A Georgia man, Sirhon “Ron” Rivers, 40, was sentenced in federal court to eight years and six months in federal prison without parole for a wire fraud scheme in which he used the identity information of deceased persons to obtain more than $2.3 million in tax refunds from several states.  The court also ordered Rivers to pay $2,358,612 in restitution.

On Sept. 14, 2014, Rivers pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Rivers admitted that he unlawfully obtained $547,000 from the Missouri Department of Revenue from January 2008 to August 2012 by filing fraudulent tax returns. Rivers used the same scheme in others states—including Kansas, Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Virginia—to unlawfully acquire a total of $2,365,617 in fraudulent state tax refunds.

Rivers obtained personal identification information—including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth—from deceased persons. He submitted state tax returns using that information, adding false and fraudulent information such as employment and wages earned. State tax returns were submitted electronically, with the refunds electronically transferred to bank accounts that Rivers opened at several financial institutions.

IRS Tax Fraud – Dewayne Long faces Prison

Dewayne K. Long, 53, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing false federal income tax returns for income tax refunds.  The Honorable Joseph Bataillon sentenced Long to one year and one day in prison, three years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of $440,924.00.

Beginning around December 1, 2008, through March 2010, Dewayne K. Long, and another individual conspired to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by filing false federal income tax returns which contained fraudulent claims for income tax refunds.  These claims were based upon false amounts of federal income tax withheld which were reported on false Forms 1099-0ID.  The Form 1099-OIDs (Original Issue Discount) improperly claimed that the clients had income and corresponding federal income taxes withheld, which resulted in a refund due from the IRS.  Long and his co-conspirator caused nine (9) false claims to be filed with the IRS, totaling $4,701,010.00.

“This defendant filed fraudulent tax returns with bogus claims in an attempt to steal from the U.S. Treasury and the taxpaying public,” said Tanya Brewer, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation.

John C.McBride – Disbarred Attorney Guilty of Bank Fraud

A Marblehead man pleaded guilty to tax and bank fraud violations, primarily for recording fraudulent federal tax lien releases on properties he owned in Marblehead and Edgartown.

John C. McBride, 65, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Chief Judge Patti B. Saris to endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administrations of the Internal Revenue laws and bank fraud.  McBride, who was indicted in June 2013, is scheduled to be sentenced on April 28, 2015.

In early 2008, McBride, a now-disbarred criminal defense lawyer, recorded six fraudulent federal tax lien releases against his Marblehead home, in order to obtain a $288,000 loan secured by that property and deprive the IRS of its nearly $700,000 secured interest.  McBride prepared the releases himself, without the knowledge or authorization of the IRS, and forged the signatures of IRS officials on them.  In March 2008, McBride attempted, unsuccessfully, to record two similar fraudulent tax lien releases against a second home he owned in Edgartown, on Martha’s Vineyard.  In 2011, McBride attempted to obtain a $387,000 reverse mortgage loan from Bank of America, which was to have been secured by his Edgartown property.  In connection with that loan application, McBride falsely told the bank that there were no liens on the Edgartown property and that he was not then in bankruptcy.  In fact, there were substantial liens on the property and McBride’s bankruptcy case, which he had filed in 2009, was still ongoing.  In furtherance of his effort to obtain the bank loan, McBride prepared and recorded a fraudulent and unauthorized discharge of mortgage which purported to discharge a more than $700,000 existing mortgage on his Edgartown property.  Bank of America discovered that the discharge was fraudulent before the loan closed, and no funds were disbursed to McBride.

The charge of bank fraud provides a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison and three years of supervised release.  The charge of endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administrations of the Internal Revenue laws is three years in prison and one year of supervised release.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Former Finance Director for Town of Plymouth – David J. Bertnagel arrested for Embezzlement

DAVID J. BERTNAGEL, 41, of Thomaston, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint charging him with embezzling more than $800,000 from the Town of Plymouth.

According to the criminal complaint, from July 2014 to October 2014, BERTNAGEL was employed as the Finance Director for the Town of Plymouth. For approximately six years prior to that time he was a part-time employee in the Town’s Finance Department. From approximately October 2011 through October 2014, it is alleged that BERTNAGEL issued 207 checks totaling approximately $808,030 from the Town’s payroll account to himself. BERTNAGEL used the embezzled funds to make mortgage payments, pay credit card bills, fund home improvement projects and purchase more than $100,000 in coins, stamps and other collectibles. He also converted more than $182,000 of the stolen funds by way of cashed checks, ATM withdrawals and money orders.

The complaint also alleges that BERTNAGEL did not file a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for the 2011 tax year and, although he did file tax returns for the 2012 and 2013 tax years, he failed to report any of his embezzled income.

Since 2011, Plymouth has received approximately $450,000 in grant awards from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The criminal complaint charges BERTNAGEL with theft from a local government receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

Don’t Screw with the IRS – Kenneth Frank Harycki pleads Guilty faces Prison

KENNETH FRANK HARYCKI, 51, plead guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing tax forms that he knew to be fraudulent. HARYCKI pleaded guiltyd to perpetrate,” said U.S. Attorney Luger. “By his guilty plea, Mr. Harycki has taken responsibility for his actions, but that does not excuse his criminal acts. This defendant not only violated his accounting license by covering up a tax fraud, he eroded the trust of the residents of Stillwater, who elected him to a position of high public office.”

According to his guilty plea, during the course of the conspiracy, HARYCKI owned and operated businesses that provided bookkeeping, payroll, and accounting services, including tax- related services, to clients. In 2007, the defendant began providing services to two separately charged co-conspirators. Within the first few payroll cycles for Model Health Care (Model), a company controlled by the two separately charged co-conspirators, the defendant concluded that while payroll taxes were being withheld from the wages of employees, those taxes were not being paid over to the government. The defendant learned that these co-conspirators had directed that the withheld taxes not be paid to the government and, instead, the taxes would be used for other purposes, including compensating the co-conspirators and their family members and funding other businesses operated by the co-conspirators.

According to the defendant’s guilty plea, on February 18, 2010, HARYCKI created the entity MKH Holdings, Inc., to assume control over bank accounts used to fund businesses operated by the co-conspirators. The entity was used to cause funds falsely reported on income tax returns to be paid to the co-conspirators and others. During the course of the conspiracy, HARYCKI also incorporated other businesses, obtained employer identification numbers, paid for personal expenses, filed false tax returns, and opened and used numerous bank accounts for the benefit of the separately charged co-conspirators in order to avoid payment of taxes.

The tax loss from the defendant’s relevant conduct is between $1 million and $2.5 million.

You can’t hide from the IRS! Eliseo Roquiz, an anesthesiologist, pleads guilty to filing a false document with IRS… Perhaps he’ll meet Wesley Snipes in prison…?

Don’t mess with the IRS…it really isn’t worth it.  Wesley Snipes tried and look where it got him – 3 years in federal prison.  How’s that for putting a career on hold.

Eliseo Roquiz of Erie, Penn., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin of the Western District of Pennsylvania to charges of filing a false document with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Justice Department and IRS announced.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Dr. Roquiz, an anesthesiologist, used multiple tax fraud promoters to prevent the IRS from assessing and collecting his income taxes. In 1998, Dr. Roquiz established two sham trusts with the assistance of a California-based organization called National Trust Service and paid an affiliate of National Trust Service to prepare false individual and trust tax returns for him for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000. As part of the fraud, Dr. Roquiz had medical providers pay fees for his services to the sham trusts and then claimed false deductions on the trust returns to reduce the taxes on the income to zero.  Dr. Roquiz also opened bank accounts in the name of the sham trusts and transferred title to his personal residence to one of the trusts.

According to court documents and statements made in court, in 2003, after the IRS began to audit his tax returns, Dr. Roquiz hired American Rights Litigators/Guiding Light of God Ministries (ARL/GLGM), an organization located in Florida that sold abusive tax schemes, to send obstructive and frivolous correspondence to the IRS in response to notices that the IRS sent to Dr. Roquiz. After ARL/GLGM was permanently enjoined in February 2004, Dr. Roquiz hired a third fraud promoter, Joseph Saladino, to file frivolous amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns (IRS Forms 1040X) for the years 2000 and 2001

According to public documents and statements, Dr. Roquiz’s efforts to disrupt IRS collection activities culminated with the submission of three false Collection Information Statements for Wage Earners and Self-Employed Individuals (IRS Forms 433-A) between January and June 2005.  All three Forms 433-A, which Dr. Roquiz signed under penalties of perjury, were materially false in that Dr. Roquiz failed to disclose that he had transferred his personal residence to his sham trust and that he was a party to a lawsuit.  The second and third Forms 433-A, which Dr. Roquiz submitted in May and June of 2005, were also materially false in that Dr. Roquiz failed to disclose the existence of a bank account that he opened in the name on an LLC he had established in New Mexico.

As part of the plea agreement, the parties agreed that the tax loss associated with Dr. Roquiz’s conduct was $342,361.11 plus interest.

The charge against Dr. Roquiz carries a maximum sentence of up to three years in prison.  Sentencing is set for Nov. 15, 2011.

Perhaps Dr. Roquiz will meet Wesley…

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!

Self-taught Tax Return Preparer – Tomeka Winberly – Convicted of Preparation of Fraudulent Tax Returns

A federal jury in Miami returned guilty verdicts against Tomeka Wimberly on twenty-four counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent income tax returns.

The evidence at trial revealed that Wimberly was a “self-taught” tax preparer who prepared thousands of false tax returns between 2004 and 2005 which resulted in her clients receiving thousands of dollars in bogus refunds. The false returns reported fictitious and/or inflated deductions for un-reimbursed employee business expenses, charitable contributions, mortgage interest, and investment deductions, as well as false education, child care, and child and dependent expenses. During her first year in business, Wimberly prepared over 700 tax returns and obtained more than $2 million in refunds. By 2006, Wimberly prepared more than 1000 tax returns and obtained more than $4 million in refunds.

Wimberly faces a maximum sentence of up to 72 years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of up to $2.4 million dollars. Sentencing is scheduled for September 20, 2011, before United States District Court Judge Paul C. Huck.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!

Snipes worried about Prison – looking for Supreme Court Relief! What will prison be like for Wesley?

Appearing on Larry King Live – Wesley Snipes took his argument to stay out of prison to the public stating that he was hopeful that the system of justice will smile in his direction if (and that’s a big if) the Supreme Court hear his appeal.  Will they?  DOUBTFUL.

“We still have prayers out there. We still believe in miracles. So don’t send me up the river yet,” Snipes said in an interview on Larry King Live last night.  Tomorrow he will report to Federal Prison in PA and begin what will be a life changing event for him – over 30 months of confinement in federal prison.

Snipes’ avoided felony charges in his tax trial, but was convicted of misdemeanors for not filing tax returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001.

“I think any man would be nervous if his liberty is at stake,” Snipes said. “I’m disappointed that the system seems not to be working for me in this situation.”

According to Prosecutors, Snipes earned $40 million since 1999 but had filed no returns and had been involved in a tax resisters group.  The head of the tax resisters group was found guilty of felony tax evasion and is actively serving a prison sentence now.  Of course, instead of accepting responsibility, Snipes disputed such involvement and said that the failure to file was his advisers’ fault.

“This is another thing that has been misreported: It has been framed that I was a conspirator and that I was an architect in a scheme by an organization that has been characterized as tax protesters,” Snipes said. “The press hasn’t reported that I was a client of people who I trusted [who] had knowledge and expertise in the areas of tax law that would protect my interests.”

Personally, I think that Wesley is guilty of attempting to find innocence instead of stepping up or manning up and telling the truth.  Wesley isn’t stupid, he’s quite capable.  Yes, he was knee deep in the throws of believing that this tax protester group had something and that something was an argument that he’d avoid having to pay taxes on a substantial sum of money.

BIG WIN FOR THE IRS

Having face a few losses in this area – one especially from an attorney in Louisiana – the IRS could not afford to let Snipes go free.  He was far to public a figure and if Snipes won, many followers of the tax avoidance scheme would become followers and have a dramatic impact on undermining the system of tax compliance in this country.

According to a CNN article:

But prosecutors, in their sentencing recommendation, said the jurors’ decision “has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a ‘victory’ for Snipes. The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has ‘gotten away with it.’ In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light.”

Snipes suggested he was unfairly singled out by prosecutors.

“It does seem to be rather unusual and rather bizarre when you had a prosecutor come into the sentencing and say that this is the biggest tax trial in the history of the IRS,” Snipes said. “I think there is a certain amount of selectivity going on here.”

Honestly, the prosecutors were right.  If Snipes went free…all heck would break loose when it comes to tax compliance.

“There have been some egregious and very malicious efforts to report the facts of this case,” Snipes said. “I was never charged with tax evasion. I’ve never been a tax protester.”

Wesley come on…man up here big guy.  Accept the fact that you weren’t just relying on a reputable firm when you made the choices you did.  You were on the fringe – no where close to main stream when it came to your responsibilities as a US citizen.  And, you know above all, if the government could have convicted you on tax evasion they would have.  You got lucky.  Your only bad luck was being sentenced to prison for failure to file.  I admit – that is unusual – but I also understand.  If you’d filed and paid as you should have you’d be home with your family this Christmas…not in prison.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN PRISON

Those first steps in are tough.  You know as you walk through the door that life is about to change dramatically!

More than likely you’d be placed in a holding cell once you arrive.  You’ll be given a set of rules to read and while you sit there – potentially for hours, you’ll have time to think about what you’re facing.  You’ll think about what you’ve done that got you here and soon…you’ll come to grips with whether you still want to believe that you’re a victim or whether you’ll accept that your choices got you there.

When the keys jingle and the door opens to let you out…you’ll be seen (more than likely) by a physician’s assistant who will give you a TB test and soon thereafter you’ll be taken to the laundry where you’ll receive your prison uniform and bedding.  Once received you’ll walk holding your new clothing across the prison compound for all to see – a fresh new inmate – “Blade” behind bars – potentially a target.  As you step into your cell you’ll meet your cell mate and at that moment you become “one of them” – life will change.

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME

Wesley Snipes to report to PRISON! Still he seems to be fighting the already lost battle…

Appearing to be somewhat obstinate to the end, Wesley Snipes convicted for tax crimes is headed to prison – much like I predicted over two years ago.  Snipes is scheduled to report to Federal Correctional Institution McKean at Lewis Run, Pennsylvania on December 9.

The crime Wesley was convicted of was failing to file his tax returns – although he was honestly involved in a movement that believes that taxing income is unconstitutional and illegal.

Here’s the post that discusses Wesley’s conviction – https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/wesley-snipes-sentenced-36-months-in-prison-for-failure-to-file-tax-returns/

A 36 month sentence means that Wesley will serve 30+ months in Federal Prison.

Snipes appealed his conviction, but lost.  After his defeat it was clear that prison was the practical outcome.  Now, having been there personally, I have the deepest empathy for Wesley.  Prison time moves slowly.  The one that that is true is that it will give Snipes a new perspective and opportunity for self-reflection.

Likewise, on a practical note, I guarantee he will file and pay his taxes moving forward.  I know many men who were imprisoned for tax crimes including not filing and paying their taxes.  All, when released, had given up the hope that somehow they could avoid the IRS or Federal Government.  Personally, I don’t care about the argument related to taxes – rather I care about my freedom.

About the Prison – FCI McKean, PA

McKean is a medium security facility housing male inmates.  An adjacent satellite prison camp houses minimum security male offenders.

FCI McKean is located in northwest Pennsylvania between Bradford and Kane, Pennsylvania.  It is situated 90 miles south of Buffalo, New York, off Route 59; and approximately 1/4 mile east of the intersection of State Route 59 and U.S. Route 219.

Here are some other links for those who are just now catching up with this story:

https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/wesley-snipes-big-day-sentencing-he-asks-for-a-slap-on-the-wrist/

https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2008/04/24/wesley-snipes-to-prison-big-win-for-irs-comments-by-white-collar-crime-speaker-chuck-gallagher/

https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/tough-guy-wesley-snipes-fighting-to-say-out-of-prison-doubt-hell-win-that-battle/

https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/wesley-snipes-not-worried-about-prison-me-thinks-he-should-be/

https://chuckgallagher.wordpress.com/2010/07/17/as-predicted-wesley-snipes-faces-prison-court-rejects-appeal/

So here’s a question for readers – Do you think that Wesley Snipes has been treated fairly?  And if not, what do you think should have happened?

YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!