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Tax Enforcement Actions

					
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the United States agency with primary responsibility for enforcing federal tax laws, working with the Department of Justice. Whistleblowers with knowledge of violations of the federal tax laws can submit a claim to the IRS under the IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, and may be eligible to receive a monetary reward.


Below are summaries of recently-announced settlements or successful prosecutions by the IRS or DOJ. If you believe you have information about fraud or wrongful conduct which could give  rise to a claim under the IRS Whistleblower Reward Program, please contact us to speak with one of our experienced whistleblower attorneys.

				

			

			
						
					
			

	
		
		

			

				
				
November 6, 2019

				 Winston Shrout, who became a fugitive after being sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2017, has been captured and returned to custody.  Shrout led seminars promoting the use of fraudulent financial instruments as a means to avoid taxes, and sold materials for the preparation of such fraudulent instruments.  In addition, Shrout failed to file tax returns from 2009 through 2014.   DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Abusive Tax Shelters, 
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 20, 2019

				 Pradyumna Kumar Samal, the former CEO of two Bellevue, Washington IT firms, has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for his role in a long-running H1-B visa fraud scheme.  Samal's companies, Divensi and Azimetry, were employment agencies in the business of providing IT workers to major corporate clients.  Samal would submit fraudulent applications on behalf of foreign workers, claiming that they were being brought to the U.S. to perform a specific job, and instructing them to lie in their own applications, when, in fact, after being admitted, the employees would be benched and unpaid until Samal's companies were able to place them at actual client jobs.  In addition, Samal's companies failed to pay employment taxes on behalf of the foreign workers, instead diverting those funds to his personal use.  USAO WD WA				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Employment Tax Fraud, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
													  Visa Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
September 5, 2019

				 The owner of two defense contracting firms, Tico Manufacturing Inc. (TICO) and Military and Commercial Spares Inc. (MCS), has been sentenced to 3 years in prison and ordered to pay $8 million in restitution for conspiring to defraud the Department of Defense.  Between 2011 and 2015, Roger Sobrado fraudulently obtained DoD contracts by claiming that conforming parts for critical military equipment, including fighter jets and helicopters, would be supplied through authorized manufacturers.  Instead, Sobrado supplied non-conforming parts through non-authorized manufacturers, recruited family members to commit the same fraud, and collected DoD payments from his family members.  Additionally, he failed to report almost half of his taxable income for three years, causing the United States to lose a total of $509,962.  USAO NJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Contract Non-Compliance, 
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Defense Contract Fraud, 
													  Government Procurement Fraud, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 29, 2019

				 Following a guilty plea, Treyton Lee Thomas was sentenced to over 21 years in prison and ordered to pay $14.6 million in restitution and forfeiture to the U.S. and victims of his investment fraud ponzi scheme.  Thomas's victims included his own father, his father's company, his wife, and his father-in-law. Thomas also pleaded guilty to income tax evasion, having failed to file returns for two decades, while using sham offshore entities to conceal his income.  USAO EDNC				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Financial and Investment Fraud, 
													  Ponzi Schemes, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 12, 2019

				 The CEO of a Colorado-based technology company has been sentenced to over 6 years in prison for defrauding the IRS, impeding the administration of tax laws, and stealing money from his employees’ healthcare and 401(K) plans.  As the head of Touchbase USA (TBUSA) and its successor company Touchbase Global Services, Inc. (TBGSI), Riordan Maynard allegedly stole over $50,000 from his employees’ healthcare plan and $68,000 from their 401(K) plans for use on company expenses.  He also caused TBUSA to be closed and TBGSI to be opened in order to avoid paying more than $2.5 million in unpaid payroll taxes.  After running up another $2.5 million in unpaid payroll taxes, Maynard also conspired to work around IRS levies sent to his customers.  USAO CO				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Criminal Proceedings, 
													  Employment Tax Fraud, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
August 5, 2019

				 Swiss private bank LLB Verwaltung (Switzerland) AG will pay a $10.6 million penalty to resolve allegations that the bank and some of its management employees conspired with a Swiss asset manager and U.S. clients to conceal assets and income from the IRS. The Swiss asset manager provided prospective customers with a sales letter -- the bank also had a copy -- pitching his ability to conceal a client’s assets and income from taxing authorities through the use of multiple layers of sham offshore entities and nominee directors in favorable countries or regions. LLB-Switzerland at one time had approximately 100 U.S. clients holding nearly $200 million in assets.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Abusive Tax Shelters, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 19, 2019

				 Lawrence Robert Gazdick Jr., owner of a Virginia equipment rental business operating under the names National Technology Rentals, NTL Technology Leasing Services, and AV Rental Solutions, pleaded guilty to employment tax fraud, withholding payroll taxes from employee paychecks but failing to file payroll tax returns or pay the IRS.  In total, Gazdick caused a loss to the IRS of approximately $5.35 million.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Employment Tax Fraud, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
July 19, 2019

				 For not disclosing additional U.S. accounts when a 2015 non-prosecution agreement was signed with the DOJ, Banque Bonhôte & Cie SA, Ltd. (Bonhôte) of Switzerland has signed an addendum, agreeing to pay an additional $1.2 million penalty on top of its $624,000 share of an earlier penalty against 80 Swiss banks totaling $1.36 billion.  The DOJ had executed non-prosecution agreements with the banks in 2015 and 2016 to resolve potential criminal liabilities relating to offshore banking services.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Abusive Tax Shelters, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
June 18, 2019

				 A New Hampshire man named Imtiaz Shaikh has been sentenced to 1.5 years in prison and ordered to pay $2.8 million to the State of New Hampshire for evading taxes on the sale of certain tobacco products.  According to state law, wholesale distributors of other tobacco products (OTP) must be licensed, file reports on the number of OTP sold, and pay taxes at 65% of the wholesale price.  To avoid paying taxes on his products, Shaikh conducted business through a number of shell corporations, robbing the state of $2.8 million in unpaid taxes.  USAO NH				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			




	
		
		

			

				
				
May 24, 2019

				 The co-defendant of a mental health clinic owner who was previously sentenced to prison for submitting false claims to Medicaid and evading taxes has been sentenced to over 6 years in prison on similar charges.  Haydn Patrick Thomas, who worked as an office manager for an oral surgeon, had been convicted of providing Catinia Farrington with the names and Medicaid identification numbers of his office’s dental patients.  He then failed to pay taxes on over $1.4 million that he earned from Farrington’s clinic, with the resulting tax loss amounting to approximately $518,000.  DOJ				 					 

						
Tagged in:
													  Healthcare Fraud, 
													  Medicaid, 
													  Tax Fraud, 
												
						

					
	
							
	
		
		
	


 			


											

						

								

									
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