There was so much tax fraud reported this week that I’m writing two posts on it. Here I’m going to take a look at two frauds from restaurants and one from farming.
Let’s start in Freeport, Long Island, New York. Lynn Robinson was the owner of several McDonald’s in Nassau County. She thought that she deserved a break today so she decided not to remit sales taxes to New York. Back in June she was found guilty of various fraud and tax charges related to the scheme. She was sentenced to six months in prison followed by five years probation. She must also make restitution of $278,678 in taxes, penalties, and interest.
>From Everett, Washington comes the story of William Robertson. Mr. Robertson owned the Hot Rod Cafe. In the mid-1990s he withheld over $491,000 in payroll taxes but didn’t remit them to the IRS. Failing to remit trust fund taxes is a sure way to get in trouble. He pleaded guilty on Friday to tax evasion. Judge Richard Jones summed it up well stating, “You started a restaurant business and got into a tight squeeze and rather than dealing with it, tried to cover it up.” Because of Mr. Robertson’s poor health he was sentenced to eight months of home confinement. He must also make restitution of about $491,000.
Finally, leads head to Hillsborough County, Florida. Goodson Farms grows peppers. Its owners purchase federal crop insurance. Supposedly, they lost a lot of their crop and filed claims on their insurance. In due course, they received about $1 million. Sounds fair; after all, that’s what crop insurance is for. It would have been if their crop had been lost; however, they allegedly had harvested their crop and sold it. That’s insurance fraud if proved. Meanwhile, the owner of Goodson Farms, Janet Goodson, has pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return for 2005. The Tampa Tribune reports that Ms. Goodson has agreed to plead guilty later this month. She also faces a suit; the government is asking for a $500,000 fine, $1 million in restitution, and $1 million in criminal forfeiture. The owners of a second farm, D&K Farms, allegedly did the same scheme with their strawberry crop. They, too, reportedly will plead guilty in a couple of weeks. The owner of D&K, Darryl Williams and William Williams, also face a suit where the federal government is asking for a $500,000 fine, $402,471 in restitution, and $402,471 in criminal forfeiture.
In the end it’s a whole lot easier to just pay your taxes but some always like to have their cake and eat it too.