Crime doesn’t pay, especially when you get caught. As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve got another full slate for you tonight.
We’ll start with some garden variety fraud in Georgia. Stephen Taylor operated 20/20 Payroll Solutions, and he made sure that your tax deposits went…mostly to his personal expenses. That’s bad. When clients began to get dunning notices from the IRS and state tax agencies, he showed them false confirmation receipts. That’s worse. Then he started using payroll tax monies from one client to pay other client’s taxes—sort of a Ponzi scheme. In the end, it fell apart, and Taylor pleaded guilty last week to one count of fraud after diverting about $4 million in deposits. He’s looking at a lengthy stay at ClubFed.
Trusts have a surgeon in Carthage, Missouri in trouble. He purchased trusts from Aegis Co., of Palos Hills, Illinois, in an attempt to avoid $1.6 million in income tax. The government alleges that the trusts are shams. Not only has the surgeon, Brian Ellefson, been arrested, the founders of Aegis are also awaiting trial. Remember our standard warning: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
David Stewart of Bowling Green, Kentucky, had a rags to riches story. Unfortunately, it will now be featuring a trip to ClubFed after Stewart pleaded guilty to four counts of tax evasion. Stewart admitted to not paying about $169,000 in income tax while not filing returns from 1999 through 2002. Along with some time at ClubFed, he faces a fine of up to $1 million.
Heading now to South Florida, the owner of a tax preparation service is accused of setting up sham corporations in Panama and Nevada to get extra deductions for his clients. Robert Payne of Miramar is charged with conspiracy and preparing false tax returns. If the allegations are true, he’s looking at a stint at ClubFed.
Finally, from Buffalo (and I’ll be nearby Buffalo for a day next week) comes the story of another bozo tax preparer. Corwin Johnson used to manage the EZ Income Tax Service. However, he pleaded guilty to tax fraud and bank fraud. He admitted to falsifying W-2 forms, identity theft, and submitting false tax refund claims. He could spend up to 30 years at ClubFed.
And I only posted a few of the stories from the last week….