Category: Criminal Tax Law

This article follows our October post regarding the California tax prosecution of San Diego resident, Sarah Thompson. The 36 year old woman pleaded guilty in October 2012. She has now been sentenced to 4 years in state prison for income tax evasion with a white collar crime enhancement (also pleaded...

The U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ"), charged Mohammad Jafar Nikbakht, a used car wholesaler, who operated several lots in the San Diego, CA, with tax evasion, subscribing to a false income tax return, and failure to file income tax returns. In March 2011, Nikbaht pleaded guilty and admitted that he...

A recent high profile felony state of California income tax evasion case adds fuel to the State's movement in developing a multi-agency partnership, to be known as the Centralized Intelligence Partnership.   This centralized agency will be used for the State of California to combat unreported and underreported economic activity. This...

On Wednesday, August 8, 2012, Tae Son Lee (aka, Mike Lee), age 52, of Oakland, California was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for Federal Tax Crimes stemming from his roofing business, also in Oakland, CA. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) conducted an investigation stemming from his...

On June 7, 2012, Grammy winner Lauryn Hill was indicted for failing to file back income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service. The criminal information charges that Ms. Hill failed to file income tax returns for tax years 2005, 2006, and 2007. Typically having unfiled tax returns will not...

The Supreme Court of the United States has recently affirmed that pleading guilty to or assisting in the filing a false tax return is considered an "aggravated felony," which is a deportable offense. This means that a resident alien can be immediately deported if he pleads to or is convicted...

If you thought that federal and state law enforcement officials have more important things to do these days than prosecute tax offenders, think again.  This multi-page post outlines recent cases involving Californians who have paid the price - in jail time, fines and restitution - for defrauding the government out...