Claude Verbal II wasn’t the most well liked owner of a home in North Raleigh, North Carolina. It seems that the 15,000 square foot mansion wasn’t used as a home; rather, it was a place to PARTY! To be fair, the parties appear to have been operated by Mr. Verbal’s ex-wife, Pamela Verbal. The local HOA probably has nothing to worry about as far as any additional parties. Besides an injunction issued by a local court, Mr. Verbal will need to sell the mansion (if it hasn’t already been sold).
You see, Mr. Verbal pleaded guilty earlier this year to a $6,460,962 tax and health care fraud scheme. He was sentenced last week to 135 months (11 years and 3 months) at ClubFed along with full restitution for one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns, one count of healthcare fraud, and one count of money laundering.
In the tax fraud scheme, Mr. Verbal owned a tax preparation franchise with ten locations in North Carolina. Mr. Verbal and his employees offered customers a unique bonus system: If the return was falsified and the client paid cash, he would get a much larger refund. Mr. Verbal and his employees utilized familiar methods: fake dependents and phony credits. Mr. Verbal bought stolen identities so his scheme could continue.
It’s how the scheme was uncovered that makes this quite interesting. From the DOJ press release:
In November 2010, one of Verbal’s employees informed a U.S. probation officer of the fraudulent practices at NBT’s location on Fayetteville Street. The probation officer informed Verbal of this fraud and he falsely denied knowledge of it. Afterward, Verbal took steps to keep the profitable Fayetteville Street location open and to continue operating as usual, but to also further distance himself from the fraudulent practices. In order to do this, Verbal transferred the electronic filing privileges for that NBT branch to a nominee. Verbal and others jointly persuaded a relative of Verbal who allowed Verbal to use their name to apply for new electronic filing privileges for the Fayetteville Street location. In exchange, Verbal and his wife paid the relative $10,000, and the relative had no role in operating NBT, no professional tax experience and no knowledge of the fraud that was occurring at NBT.
But that’s not all. Besides owning a tax preparation firm, Mr. Verbal owned a Medicaid health provider in North Carolina. Mr. Verbal engaged in healthcare fraud, including changing diagnosis codes, inflating the number of clients treated, billing for services not rendered, and faking assessments.
From both schemes, Mr. Verbal used the proceeds to buy luxury goods and possessions, such as his party house in North Raleigh. Many of the items acquired by Mr. Verbal were seized during the investigation, including nearly $766,000 in cash and a 7-carat diamond ring.
As a reminder to anyone who is offered the chance to get a larger refund by paying in cash and having phony items added to his or her tax return: Don’t do it! If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Not only is knowingly participating in such activities a crime, sooner or later you could get a “Dear Soon to be Audited Taxpayer” letter from the IRS.
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