Archive

January 14, 2019

FedEx will pay $35.3 million to the State of New York to resolve lawsuits alleging that FedEx knew it was illegally shipping hundreds of thousands of untaxed cigarettes directly to New York residents on behalf of cigarette traffickers. FedEx also agreed to implement specific internal compliance procedures and make ongoing reports to the State.  NY

December 21, 2018

Sprint Communications will pay $330 million to the State of New York to resolve claims that for nearly a decade Sprint knowingly failed to collect and remit more than $100 million in state and local sales taxes owed on flat-rate wireless calling plans sold by Spriint to New York customers.  The investigation was initiated by a whistleblower lawsuit filed under the New York False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to bring claims based on a failure to pay taxes.  The unnamed whistleblower will receive $62.7 million of the settlement.  NY AG

December 19, 2018

The U.S. has filed a complaint to bar EcoVest Capital, Inc. and associated individuals from continued activities related to the defendants' allegedly abusive conservation easement syndication tax scheme.  As set forth in the complaint, taxpayers may take a "qualified conservation contribution" deduction equivalent to the fair market value of a conservation easement, but only if certain requirements with respect to the donation of an interest in property for conservation purposes are satisfied. The defendants allegedly have organized, promoted, and sold ownership interests in at least 96 sham “conservation easement syndicates” which lack economic substance.  The syndicates have reported over $2 billion in improper tax deductions, resulting in hundreds of millions in tax underpayments.   DOJ

December 4, 2018

In connection with their work for the "Panama Papers" law firm of Mossack Fonseca & Co. and its affiliates, Ramses Owens, Dirk Brauer, Richard Gaffey, and Harald Joachim Von Der Goltz have been indicted for actions related to the firm's efforts to circumvent U.S. tax laws on behalf of their clients through the use of offshore accounts and shell companies which Mossack Fonseca created.  The defendants then used an alleged “playbook” to repatriate un-taxed money into the U.S. banking system. The defendants are charged with wire fraud, tax fraud, and money laundering, among other offenses. In the last two months, three of the defendants have been arrested; Ramses Owens remains at large.  DOJ

November 21, 2018

Two owners of Erin’s Own Home Healthcare Inc., a Boston-area home healthcare company, pleaded guilty for underreporting income to the IRS resulting in over $1 million in losses.  Hannah Holland and Sheila O’Connell admitted that between 2010 and 2014, they cashed over $3.5 million of Erin’s Own business checks through nominee bank accounts controlled by an unnamed individual, and did not report this income to the IRS.  DOJ; USAO Mass.

November 21, 2018

Wagdy Guirguis of Honolulu, the owner of several engineering businesses, and Michael Higa, a CPA and the controller for those businesses, were convicted on multiple counts arising from a tax evasion scheme that diverted funds from Guirguis's business entities.  The entities failed to pay the IRS withheld employment taxes, failed to report all income received, and failed to file required returns.  Guirguis was also found to have impeded the IRS investigation and made false statements to revenue officers.  DOJ

November 19, 2018

Teymour Khoubian of Beverly Hills, California, has pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns which concealed offshore accounts he held and earned income from.  Khoubian had declined to disclose the accounts under the IRS's Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program.  As part of his guilty plea, Khoubian agreed to a penalty of $7.7 million and an additional $612,310 in restitution to the IRS. Khoubian faces a prison sentence of three years.  DOJ

November 16, 2018

The owner of Virginia-based Family Discount Pharmacy, Jerry R. Harper, Jr., was sentenced to 41 months in prison for failing to account for and pay more than $5 million in employment tax liabilities, despite withholding such taxes from employee wages.  Between 1998 and 2014, Harper filed only one quarterly employment tax return for the pharmacy.  DOJ

November 13, 2018

Offshore art purchaser, Porsal Equities Ltd., will pay $10.75 million to settle claims for tax fraud and for violation of the New York False Claims Act. Between 2010 and 2015 Porsal Equities Ltd., a company based in the British Virgin Islands, finagled their way out of paying sales tax on over $50 million in artwork and other goods purchased in New York. They fraudulently claimed that they were exempt from paying sales tax because the art was purchased for resale. The truth is that the art was purchased for personal use and for display in the New York City apartments of the company’s sole director.  Furthermore, despite the notice which the director received from a tax authority, Porsal Equities failed to pay use tax on art they purchased outside of New York which was shipped into New York for personal use in the apartments belonging to the director. Porsal Equities did admit their violations in the settlement agreement. The company also agreed to report and file use tax returns for any artwork used in the state. NY AG

October 15, 2018

The heir of a family skincare business has been sentenced to almost 3 years in prison for multiple counts of tax fraud. James Wright of B&P Company, Inc.—which has been selling a wrinkle reduction product called Frownies since 1889—allegedly diverted money from the company to a series of entities that he then used to fund personal expenses. Through a company he called The Remnant, Inc., Wright paid rent and utilities for himself and other immediate family members. Through a private foundation he called Fore Fathers Foundation, he paid high school and college tuition for his five children. According to the DOJ press release, Wright had previously pleaded guilty to concealing income through trusts. In addition to the new prison sentence, he is ordered to pay almost restitution of $150,000. DOJ