With the Final Four in full force, it seems fitting to look at one man who is probably not enjoying the NCAA Basketball championships. In prior years, Nathan Peake would likely be scouting players, to see if any would be willing to sign with him to represent them when they negotiated contracts with NBA teams. That’s definitely not happening now.
Mr. Peake ran Peake Management Group, Inc. in suburban Maryland. Mr. Peake’s profits after-tax were the same as they were before tax, and that doesn’t work (especially when the IRS finds out). From 2000 through 2007, Mr. Peake “neglected” to file his tax returns. Adding to his tax evasion, he moved $5,836,940 from his business account to various personal accounts in other names. He structured payments (made payments in cash of amounts less than $10,000 so as to avoid currency reporting), paid personal expenses from business accounts, and generally just did his best to avoid paying tax.
The trouble with that strategy is that when it fails, it usually fails spectacularly. It did here.
On Friday, Mr. Peake pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud. Given that the amount of the evasion is over $1 million in tax, Mr. Peake will likely be residing at ClubFed in the near future. Sentencing is scheduled for August 2nd.