Taxable Talk

Having returned from a trip to Connecticut, I needn’t have worried that the tax fraud artists would be missing. They’re out in force this morning.

First, from Clarksville, Tennessee comes a woman who had a bookkeeping business. She named it “Nunya Business.” I’m not sure that’s a great name, and it became less of a good name when she decided to try a new career as an embezzler. She managed to get $63,000 from her clients. She decided that one good crime deserved another, so she failed to report that income on her tax return. And she left off another $160,000 for good measure. She agreed to plead guilty, and she’ll likely be spending 30 months at ClubFed.

Meanwhile, the City of Brotherly Love has had its own corruption problems. Joseph Moderski, a Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania business consultant, will be spending 37 months at ClubFed. He got ensnared in a city hall corruption investigation. Earlier this year, he got 14 months for a “pay to play” scheme at Philadelphia’s airport. He pleaded guilty in July to defrauding the city and his ex-employer…and not paying $764,000 in taxes. Besides the jail time, he must make restitution of $1.3 million to the IRS.

Finally, in Florence, South Carolina, a doctor has probably learned that if you make up phony deductions and get caught, the jail you’re sentenced to is very real. Dr. Erik Dehlinger worked in an emergency room in Florence. He heard about Anderson’s Ark & Associates. They promised to make his tax liabilities disappear through phony expenses and false loan deductions. Instead of disappearing, his tax liabilities still exist, along with interest and penalties…and a probable fine and a short stay at ClubFed. Joe Kristan wrote in 2002, “If it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.” I agree completely.

The bigger they come, the harder they fall. So goes the cliche, and so also go the owners of Circle Industries in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Gerald Marchelletta, Sr., and Gerald Marchelletta, Jr., own Circle Industries. They specialize in drywall construction, and worked on the Olympic Village in Atlanta and the Atlantis Hotel & Casino in the Bahamas. They and their bookkeeper, Theresa Kottwitz, decided that rules were unimportant and they would deduct personal expenses on their business tax returns.

Now, we’re not talking about a few pens and pencils here, or a couple of bags of cement. The news story states that testimony in their trial showed that the owners each built million dollar homes with this money. Other personal expenses charged to their business included clothing, landscaping at a New York home, and visits to Atlanta’s Gold Club.

Now, I don’t know if the trips to the Adult Entertainment club led to the investigation that resulted in the charges in this case. It wouldn’t surprise me, though, if that were the case. Somehow, strip clubs and tax evasion go together. But I digress….

US Attorney David Nahmias called this, “This was a case of pure greed, in which the defendants tried to defraud the United States Treasury of over $1 million.” Given federal sentencing guidelines, the trio, when sentenced early next year, will have plenty of time to reflect while at ClubFed.

I must admit that I laughed when I read this story. From Canton, Georgia comes the tale of Larry Black. Mr. Black decided to set up a booth at a check-cashing store in suburban Atlanta. He said he was a CPA. He then took the personal information he obtained, and filed phony tax returns where he got most of the refunds, and his clients got small amounts.

What was his take? A measly $46,000. Oh, and 15 months at ClubFed, plus likely restitution to the US Treasury. It hardly seems worthwhile….

I just finished re-reading Murder by the Book. Written in the 1950’s by Rex Stout, the Nero Wolfe novel deals with four deaths and what a certain book (“Put Not Your Trust”) has to do with them. If you’ve never read Stout, do so—he’s a wonderful author, and the books written many years ago are still eminently readable.

Coincidentally, two sham trusts crossed my email in-basket this evening. From Kenai, Alaska comes yet another dentist who allegedly decided that a sham trust was a good way to cut his taxes. Here’s the alleged scheme according to the Department of Justice.

The accused, Glenn Lockwood, formed a professional corporation. No problem so far. Then he allegedly contracted his services to an Irish company. That company allegedly leased his services to a Nevada company which, in turn, allegedly leased his services back to his own corporation. Of course, the money took a much more convoluted path, with offshore accounts, Nevada real estate development, and sham trusts supposedly thrown into the mix. The DOJ alleges that the loss to the Treasury is $575,000 for tax years 2000-2003. Mr. Lockwood will face four counts of tax evasion, and is looking at ClubFed if found guilty.

Meanwhile, in North Carolina, the DOJ has filed a civil lawsuit accusing two men of creating sham trusts to help customers evade taxes. The accused, Alexander Klosek and Bryan Noel, allegedly targeted wealthy and elderly individuals and attempted to get them to sell their homes and other major assets into sham trusts. It appears to be a pretty big alleged crime; the DOJ estimates the loss to the Treasury at $55 million. The DOJ has asked for an injunction to stop the individuals from selling any more trusts. And you can be fairly certain that a request for their customer list will soon follow so that the IRS can send a heartwarming “Dear Valued Taxpayer” letter to Klosek’s and Noel’s customers.

In the end, the best kinds of sham trusts are the ones you read about in novels. They cost you $5.95 or so for a paperback. The crimes described above, if proved, could lead to much larger penalties.

I am rarely surprised when I write about tax crime. I remember reading on Fark about a 91 year old bank robber with the headline never too old to steal. Today’s subject is a little younger, but still one of our senior citizens.

Well, let’s head to North Platte, Nebraska. Thomas Miller is a retired dentist in North Platte. He also has some annuities and pensions (which isn’t unusual). But his tax returns painted a somewhat different story.

According to this article, in 1998 he allegedly reported a tax loss of $1.6 million…but it should have been zero. In 1999, he reported a loss of $22,730 but he should have reported over $369,000 in pension and annuity income. He was indicted for this, and for reporting tax losses in 2001 and 2002 when the government believes that none should have been reported.

But it gets worse. Mr. Miller also faces charges of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and swindling for allegedly taking $1.3 million in investor’s money, putting it in accounts in Grenada, and then allegedly sending the money elsewhere overseas for his own use.

Mr. Miller pleaded guilty to two counts of tax fraud on September 4th. He still appears to be facing the other charges with a court date in October.

At least three times I’ve written about Renaissance, the Tax People. The company, now out of business, was a multi-level marketing firm that promoted deducting personal expenses as business expenses. The latter is why they’re out of business, with the principals finding their way to ClubFed.

Thell G. Prueitt of Kingsland, Texas used to be at Renaissance. After that company dissolved, he set up shop at several other companies. The US Government alleges that Mr. Prueitt is promoting the same schemes as used at Renaissance, and the government is suing to bar him from preparing tax returns. The DOJ alleges that Mr. Prueitt’s materials, “…have falsely claimed that customers could convert non-deductible personal expenses into deductible business expenses and be ‘audit proof.'”

My old advice stands about any tax scheme that you come across: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.