On August 6, 2010, in Dayton, Ohio, Dominic Joseph Maga, a physician, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and ordered to pay $160,955 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). A federal court jury convicted Maga on August 6, 2009 of five counts of failure to file income tax returns disclosing more than $1.1 million in income from hospitals. According to court documents, Maga was an emergency room doctor employed at Grandview Medical Center and Southview Hospital, as well as Riverside Hospital and Grant Medical Center in Columbus, Ohio. Trial evidence showed that Maga failed to file federal income tax returns disclosing $1,159,431 in income for tax years 2002 through 2006.
Posts Tagged ‘prison’
Ohio Physician Sentenced for Failing to File Income
Monday, January 24th, 2011Florida Dentist Sentenced to 42 Months for Income Tax Evasion
Monday, January 10th, 2011On August 19, 2010, in Ocala, Fla., Mark S. Maggert, of Fruitland Park, was sentenced to 42 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service to pay all taxes due and owing, as well as applicable interest and penalties. Maggert was found guilty by a jury on March 18, 2010 on tax evasion charges. According to trial evidence, in calendar years 2002 through 2005, Maggert, a dentist, received taxable income of more than $900,000 but failed to file any income tax returns or pay any income taxes. Maggert also utilized nominee companies for the purpose of concealing his income and assets, made withdrawals from the companies in the form of checks to cash, and filed documents with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) designed to impair the IRS’s ability to assess and collect the taxes he owed.
First of Eight Taqueria Arandas Restaurant Owners Sentenced for Filing False Income Tax Returns
Tuesday, November 9th, 2010On April 8, 2009, in Houston, Texas, Carlos Garcia was sentenced to a year and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $245,786 in restitution above the $700,000 already paid for filing false income tax returns for Taqueria Arandas No. 12 Inc., through which he operated a restaurant at 10403-A Gulf Freeway in Houston. Garcia pleaded guilty on October 24, 2008, admitting in pleadings filed that day that he had filed Corporate Income Tax Returns for Taqueria Arandas No. 12 Inc., for tax years 2001 through 2004 that under-reported sales by approximately $2,813,156. He also admitted that, as a result, he and his corporation underpaid income taxes by approximately $945,786. Prior to his sentencing, Garcia paid the Internal Revenue Service $700,000 in delinquent taxes. Garcia is the first of eight local Taqueria Arnadas Restaurant owners to be sentenced.
You’re Not Guilty of One of These, Are You?
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010When the IRS prosecutes, tax evasion is not always the only charge (if it’s charged at all). In fact, there are cases where the person who has been found guilty of one crime may also be charged with violating other laws.
The Justice Department asks the prosecutor to choose a “lead charge” in all the cases they present. Here’s a list of some of the “lead charges” that are often brought to court in IRS cases:
1. Conspiracy to Defraud the U.S:
Entering into an agreement or conspiracy with another to cheat the government out of taxes deceitfully. The penalty – up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine.
2. Fraud & False Statements
Knowingly covering up a fact by using a trick, scheme, or false writing or document. The penalty – up to 5 years in prison and/or a fine.
3. Willful Failure-To-File
The willful failure to pay the estimated tax at the time required by law. The penalty - up to one year in prison and/or up to $25,000 in fines ($100,000 in the case of a corporation).
Do You See Yourself In Any of These Stories?
All of these are true stories, taken from official Government Records. When you read this, do you see yourself in any of the actions that these people have taken?
A couple puts their money in a “trust” to avoid detection…a business owner tries to hide his cash through paper corporations and off-shore accounts…a business owner simply ignores the warnings of his own payroll service…
Do you have something in your past that’s going to come back and haunt you? Is the IRS going to come after you?
Don’t spend your life wondering if you’re going to be the next story posted on the IRS’ website and/or published on the front page of your local paper.
Make it right while you still have the time…
Washington State Woman Sentenced for Failing to Pay Employment Taxes
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010On December 18, 2009, in Seattle, Wash., Michelle L. Bielaski, of Bellevue, Washington, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, two years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,478,002 in restitution. Bielaski pleaded guilty in June 2009, admitting that as secretary and treasurer of Falcon Construction, Inc., she failed to send to the Internal Revenue Service taxes that the company withheld from employee paychecks. In her plea agreement, Bielaski admitted that the construction company had the ability to pay the withheld taxes over the years and in fact had paid salaries totaling approximately $3.9 million from 1998 to 2007.
Learn From This Man’s Mistakes!
Friday, June 11th, 2010I often wonder how a person gets to the point where they’re running from the IRS. I’m sure that most people don’t start off in business saying to themselves: “I’m going to start a business and defraud the government out of tax money”.
But yet, over time, it still happens. Consider this True Story, from the IRS Website:
“On April 25, 2006, in San Francisco, CA, Lee Nobmann, the CEO and owner of Golden State Lumber (GSL), was sentenced to 15 months in prison, fined $40,000 and ordered to pay $330,000 in restitution.
Nobmann pleaded guilty on Dec. 8, 2005, admitting that he had his company pay for his personal expenses and deduct the funds as the company’s business expenses from 1996 to 2000.
Nobmann also acknowledged that he received rebate checks from vendors and deposited them into his personal bank account and did not report the payments as income for the company or as income on his personal income tax returns.”
I don’t have any inside information about this case. All I know about it is what you just read. But still, reading stories like this always makes me wonder what happened over the 4-year period from 1996-2000, when this man started having his company pick up his personal expenses and claiming them as business expenses.
Did he not know that he was making a big mistake? Did the Chief Financial Officer try to warn him about this from the beginning?
When he started depositing checks into his bank account from vendors into his personal account…did he think that he wouldn’t get caught?
5 Years Go By…I Wonder If I’m Going to Get Away With It?
The other interesting thing about this case is that it says he was sentenced to prison in 2005 for something that happened from 1996-2000. Five years go by…seems like a long time.
I wonder what he was thinking from 2000 until 2005? He had 5 years where he knew he had defrauded the government out of tax money … but yet he was still a free man. Did he think he was going to get away with it?
Was he constantly looking over his shoulder, wondering if the IRS was going to “jump out of the bushes?” Did he ever read a blog like this one – encouraging him to do the right thing … before it’s too late? So if he was being warned, why did he ignore the warnings?
Texas Doctor Sentenced For Tax Evasion
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010On September 29, 2009, in Texarkana, Texas, Malcolm David MacHauer was sentenced to 33 months imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $222,782. MacHauer was found guilty by a jury on June 17, 2009, of three counts of attempting to evade and defeat paying federal income taxes. According to information presented in court, although MacHauer received income from Wadley Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, for his services as a doctor, he failed to pay the appropriate federal income taxes. Instead, MacHauer placed his income into his corporation, transferring the money to the MacHauer Family Trust, and then withdrawing money from that Trust to pay his personal expenses without paying income tax.
Owner of North Hollywood Restaurant Sentenced for Tax Evasion
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010On October 2, 2009, in Los Angeles, Calif., James Saliba, owner of a North Hollywood restaurant, Barsac Brasserie, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, three years supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution and fines totaling more than $938,000 for failing to report all of the restaurant’s business receipts and overstating business expenses from 2001 through 2005. According to court documents, Saliba underreported the gross sales of Barsac by using an account he called “Accrued Management Fees”, where he recorded some of the sales. He also overstated expenses by writing corporate checks from Barsac to his wife, Lisa Long, and then deducting these payments as expenses on the returns for the restaurant and by writing checks to “Cash” and expensing them as tips; giving a small portion to employees while skimming the balance for himself.