Richard Stenhouse of Buffalo, New York, pleaded guilty on December 22, 2021, to filing a false tax return for omitting five years’ worth of income from an area church.
According to the Justice Department, Stenhouse failed to report $398,000 in salary from Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church on his 2014 through 2018 tax returns. He underpaid his taxes by an estimated $96,000.
In his plea agreement, Stenhouse admitted to filing a 2016 tax return reporting $145,637 in salary despite earning $203,625. His guilty plea to a single count of filing a false tax return under section 7206(1) refers specifically to that tax return, although he agreed to a calculation of the tax loss using all five years.
Stenhouse faces up to three years in prison at his May 18 sentencing.
Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, the former director of Chabad of Poway who was injured in a shooting at the California synagogue in April 2019, was sentenced to 14 months in prison on January 4 for his role in a charity fraud scheme emanating from the synagogue.
According to the government, Goldstein funneled at least $6.2 million through the scheme under which he would accept donations, give tax receipts, and then return 90 percent of the funds in cash. The remaining 10 percent went straight into Goldstein’s pockets.
The government noted that three Fortune 500 companies were duped into matching the supposed donations funneled through the conspiracy. The government lost over $1.5 million in tax revenue, and the companies lost $144,000.
Goldstein was also ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution and to surrender by February 23.
In addition to his guilty plea for tax conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. section 371, the investigation of Goldstein’s scheme has caught up several other defendants, including his brother and a former director of Qualcomm Inc.
Restaurant Owner Hides Income
The owner of a Hammond, Indiana, restaurant was sentenced on December 21, 2021, to six months in prison and six months of home detention for evading the assessment of federal income taxes.
According to the Justice Department, Daniel Urquiza concealed over $700,000 in income from his restaurant and demolition businesses between 2014 and 2018. Urquiza falsified Forms W-2, filed false federal tax returns, and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars from the proceeds of the businesses on personal expenses.
Urquiza, who pleaded guilty to the section 7201 tax evasion charge in June 2021, was ordered to pay $145,432 in restitution to the IRS. The Justice Department said most of the revenue from the two businesses came from contracts with the city of Hammond and the Hammond Port Authority.
One Last Plea
Mehef Bey of Charlotte, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on January 3 to conspiring to defraud the government in a nationwide tax fraud scheme that involved falsely representing to clients that their debts entitled them to tax refunds.
Bey and his co-conspirators — three of whom pleaded guilty in December 2021 for their roles in the scheme — filed false tax returns for the clients claiming that banks and other financial institutions withheld large amounts of their income taxes. The conspirators held seminars across the country promoting the scheme between 2014 and 2016 and ultimately sought more than $64 million from the IRS, according to the government.
While the conspirators charged between $10,000 and $15,000 for the preparation of each tax return and Bey personally earned more than $1 million from the scheme, Bey filed no tax returns for 2015 and 2016 and falsely claimed a tax refund on his 2014 return.
Bey faces up to five years in prison for the tax conspiracy charge and up to six years for two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of a false tax return under section 7206(2).
Rough Cut
North Carolinian Steve Sloan pleaded guilty on December 20, 2021, to filing a false tax return that reported only a portion of the profits of his lawn care service business.
According to the government, Sloan filed false returns for tax years 2014 through 2018 that understated his tax liability by $318,735. He pleaded guilty to a charge addressing the 2017 tax return, which reported less than $200,000 of gross receipts instead of the $465,650 the company received.
Sloan faces up to three years in prison at his June 21 sentencing.
Elder Fraud
Clarence M. Rice Jr. of Hampton, Virginia, pleaded guilty on December 28, 2021, to defrauding elderly victims out of more than $630,000 and evading the assessment of more than $52,000 in taxes due on proceeds from his scheme.
Rice convinced victims, including a 75-year-old retired bricklayer and an elderly blind man, that he was going to receive a large inheritance upon his father’s death, conditional on the payment of his debts, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department said Rice hasn’t filed tax returns since 2011 and hid his assets by negotiating checks from victims for cash, using prepaid credit cards, and lying to law enforcement.
Rice faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and up to five years for tax evasion. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25.