Taxable Talk

Superior Electric Company of Ohio had an interesting way to make a profit: they cooked the books. Back in November, two former executives pleaded guilty to defrauding the IRS. Yesterday, John McShane, the former CFO, was sentenced.

Mr. McShane was sentenced to 15 months and ordered to make restitution of $1.62 million.

What did Mr. McShane and the former CEO and co-owner of Superior, Jerry Gemeinhardt, do? They put some of Mr. Gemeinhardt's personal expenses as company expenses. Things like his yacht and landscaping expenses are some of what they allegedly did.

Mr. Gemeinhardt hasn't been sentenced yet. I suspect his yacht will soon have a "for sale" sign on it.

Walter Anderson, the former telecommunications executive who pleaded guilty to engaging in a $200 million tax fraud, received nine years in prison when sentenced on Tuesday. But Mr. Anderson did get lucky in one respect. Because the plea agreement was poorly written, the judge did not order Mr. Anderson to make restitution. The IRS will have to make a separate case in civil court to recover the money.

Hat Tip: Roth Tax Updates

There's something about strip clubs that brings out the worst in taxpayers. They're a mecca for tax fraud. In January I brought you the story of Dangerous Curves, a Philadelphia area strip club whose owners were accused of tax fraud. Today comes word that one of the owners, Bishop Krabsz, will plead guilty tomorrow to hiding $800,000 of income and paying employees under the table.

The investigation began as an offshoot of a corruption probe of former Philadelphia Councilman Richard Mariano. Also accused are Dangerous Curves' accountant, Enrico Nardini, and the other co-owner, Kevin Rankin. Both Nardini and Rankin have pleaded not guilty.

"Renaissance, the Tax People", was, as I previously reported, a multi-level marketing firm specializing in tax. That was the legal part of the business. The illegal part, according to the Department of Justice (and the six individuals who have pleaded guilty to various charges to date) was how it lowered taxes for its clients.

If you used the Renaissance system, you could deduct personal expenses as business expenses! And you could have gotten this system for just $300 to $1200, plus another $100 per month! What a deal!

Just one major problem with that...you can never deduct personal expenses as business expenses. That's fraud, and that's what the Renaissance founders promoted.

The latest to plead guilty is Renaissance's former National Marketing Director, Todd Eugene Strand of nearby Murrieta, California. Mr. Strand admitted that he falsely assured customers that the program was legal. He also agreed that Renaissance defrauded customers of $75 million, and caused a tax loss to the United States of $20 million.

Mr. Strand is looking at a few years at ClubFed, and a possible fine of $500,000. He'll be sentenced in January 2008.

I'm a big fan of Rex Stout, the creator of fictional detective Nero Wolfe. Murder by the Book is prototypical Stout, and is one of my favorites. As a published author, I've gotten to see some of the workings of the publishing industry. The plot in Murder by the Book centers on an unpublished novel titled Put Not Your Trust. And that's where this tax story begins.

Most Americans believe they pay too much in taxes. High income taxpayers think this too. Many find themselves investing in various schemes in an effort to lower their taxes. Sometimes they pay more in fees than they will save in taxes. One of the most popular vehicles—but definitely one that needs to be carefully explored—are offshore trusts.

The idea is to take taxable income and turn it into nontaxable income. Usually these trusts are found in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands or the Isle of Man. Promoters promise the moon, but remember my old adage: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Americans are taxed on their worldwide income. If you have an offshore trust, it may not file documents with the IRS. But if you look at Schedule B, you will note that there's a question that asks if you are the grantor of an offshore trust. If you are, you need to report it (in most cases).

Ah, you'll just ignore that bit of tax law; the IRS will never catch you. Warning: you've just committed a felony. Of course, the IRS might not catch you, but you won't be happy if they do.

The IRS goes after promoters of these sham trusts. Victor Carlysle Sullivan, Jr. of Albany, GA is the latest to find this out. Sullivan charged between $5,950 and $49,500 to invest in these trusts. He's just been barred from promoting or organizing any more of them. And he has to send the names and social security numbers of his clients to the IRS. If you're one of his "lucky" customers, expect a friendly neighborhood IRS agent to be knocking on your door in the near future.

So put not your trust in offshore trusts, because if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And Mr. Sullivan's customers will almost certainly wish they never heard of him. Oh, if you've never read Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books, pick one up. You're in for a treat.

This weekend's edition of the fraud post features a bozo tax preparer, a contractor who built his dream house with the money he was supposed to send to the IRS, and a temp agency owner who allegedly did a good job withholding taxes but a poor job in sending them to the government.

Let's start close to my home. From nearby Buena Park, California (home to Knott's Berry Farm) comes the story of Yakoob Habib. Mr. Habib pleaded guilty in February to money laundering, tax evasion, and flight while on bail. Mr. Habib was sentenced on Friday to 11 years in state prison.

The news story indicates that Mr. Habib has a history with crime. Back in 2001, he was part of a conspiracy stealing million from California's MediCal program. He pleaded guilty in 2002 and promised to cooperate with the government. Later he decided to flea the United States. His current offense was not reporting $10 million that went through his personal accounts and $18 million that went through his business. Mr. Habib has probably prepared his last tax return.

We all want our dream houses. Athanasios Reglas thought he had a foolproof way of getting his. He created two fictitious companies that billed his Reglas Painting Company for work that was never done. He built his dream home in Ocean City, Maryland and bought a waterfront lot for $400,000. He also transferred money from his shell companies to his personal accounts, and he committed the crime of "structuring" as he hid $873,000 in withdrawals. When he was arrested, the government found $358,000 in cash (which he has agreed to forfeit). He pleaded guilty to tax evasion and will be sentenced in July. Based on federal sentencing guidelines, Mr. Reglas is looking at 3 to 4 years at ClubFed.

Finally, Michael Monahan of Nashua, New Hampshire is alleged to have not paid the government withholding taxes. Mr. Monahan runs a temp agency in Nashua. On Wednesday, Mr. Monahan was indicted on six counts of tax evasion and three counts of mail fraud. Mr. Monahan allegedly had an interesting method of reporting his firm's wages to the government. In 2000, for example, he reported $226,000 in wages and paid $69,000 in taxes. The problem is that he allegedly had an additional $1.9 million in wages. Oops. The IRS alleges that this continued through 2003. The government is also looking Mr. Monahan's partner in the business (who was not named in the indictment). Mr. Monahan faces a long term at ClubFed if he's found guilty on the charges.

There's just no such thing as a free lunch....

Erle Stanley Gardner would enjoy this plot. A madam, excuse me, an escort service operator, is accused of racketeering and money laundering. She has a list of her customers that she wants to sell. She claims to have given a copy of her list to an unnamed news organization, to help her case (according to her attorney).

Meanwhile the prosecution accuses the escort service operator to really be a madam, and they accuse her and her attorney of intimidating witnesses by suing former employees and customers. They've asked the judge to prevent her from instigating any of these lawsuits. On Monday the judge delayed until Thursday the hearing on whether Deborah Palfrey, the accused, can sell her list.

So is Palfrey a madam who ran a high-class prostitution business serving wheelers and dealers in the District of Columbia, or just an innocent businesswoman who operated, as she told the Washington Times, "[a] legal, high-end erotic-fantasy service [with clients] from the more refined walks of life" in Washington?

News Story: Washington Times

If I told you that there was a trial attracting a media circus in Chicago, you might wonder about my intelligence. Except for stories in the two daily Chicago newspapers (the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times), this trial might not even be happening. While I have reported on this trial (most recently, on Monday), the Register and the Los Angeles Times have been silent.

It's the Conrad Black trial. As the Tribune reports, the jurors have been selected (but the names aren't being released), and the trial will begin on Monday.

While the trial isn't making news in the United States, it's big news north of the border. Hordes of Canadian media have descended on Chicago to cover the trial. As this story from the Edmonton Sun notes, it's going to be tough sledding for the jury. How would you like to be a juror and be faced with understanding the complexities behind mail fraud, tax fraud, and all the other charges that the defendants are accused of?

Well, I will continue to cover the trial. Because a good media circus makes for some fun during tax season.

Back in November I wrote about the Ozbay family of Schenectady, New York. They didn't commit one piece of tax fraud. No, they committed lots of tax fraud. They didn't pay income tax, they structured their transactions, and they didn't pay withholding taxes to the government that they withheld from their employees.

Ziya Ozbay is the first of the four Ozbays to be sentenced. He got ten years at ClubFed and he must surrender $6.8 million of his ill-gotten gains. Ziya was found guilty along with his son-in-law, Yalcin Ozbay (he will be sentenced on April 13th). Mustafa Ozbay, Ziya's brother, pleaded guilty along with Mustafa's son, Birol Ozbay. Birol will be sentenced on March 28th and Mustafa on April 26th. (News story here.)

Meanwhile, in White Plains, New York, Duane Howell has probably prepared his last tax return for a client. The 72-year old Howell pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to obstruct the IRS, preparing false tax returns, and obstructing the IRS.

Mr. Howell falsified expenses on the partnership returns of his clients, adding phony expenses that reduced the liability for his clients. It's not a bad way to attract clients—if you can get away with it. Personally, I don't recommend it as the consequences can be disastrous. For Mr. Howell, he faces up to eight years at ClubFed according to this story.

Last year I wrote about David Richardson of nearby Huntington Beach. Mr. Richardson was indicted on five counts of tax fraud (filing false claims), after filing multiple phony refund claims. But what made Mr. Richardson special was what he did when he didn't get his tax refunds. As I said last year,

"But I do like what he was then alleged to have done. The indictment charges that Mr. Richardson filed a complaint with Congressman David Drier relating to the delay in payment of his allegedly falsely claimed refunds. He also is alleged to have sent a check for $1,990,000 to the IRS that showed amounts of withholding...except that is alleged never to have happened. Oh, the check bounced, too. Now these actions show some chutzpah."

Mr. Richardson was convicted in November. He got the bad news today: five years at ClubFed, and restitution of $286,345. He'll have five years of supervised release when he gets out of ClubFed, too. His chutzpah will likely soon be a thing of the past.

News Story: Orange County Register

The last few days have seen a few interesting stories of fraud and deceit in the tax world. We begin in the heart of Texas, travel to the East Coast, and end up with two stories that have a California connection.


Carl Herrera is a former NBA player with Houston, San Antonio, Vancouver (now Memphis), and Denver. He has also been a member of the Venezuelan National Team. His next gig may be with the ClubFed team; he surrendered to federal authorities last week after being indicted on charges of not paying $554,471 in taxes between 1994 and 1997.

Remember our story on Joe Mammana, the Yardley, PA philanthropist accused of not paying tax on over $4 million? The Associated Press reports that he will admit to the tax fraud in a plea deal next week.

The Fresno Bee has a story this past week about the IRS making some changes in the whistle-blower program. The tip program now offers rewards of up to 30% of what's recovered.

And finally, a story that's not really about taxes. But it's too good to pass up. From the AP headline: "Alleged California madam threatens to sell list of D.C. clients." Deborah Palfrey of Vallejo (north of San Francisco) was indicted last week in Washington for allegedly running a prostitution ring. Her service has, according to the government, employed 132 ladies and generated $2 million in income. Her attorney says it's a legal escort service; the prosecution charges that it's racketeering. She's accused on RICO charges and money laundering. Her attorney notes that Ms. Palfrey only has one asset left to sell to fund her defense: her customer list. I wonder if anyone in D.C. is sweating right now?