Eastern District of California Blog

Sacramento Attorney Indicted on Tax Fraud Charges

Sacramento-area attorney Scott N. Johnson, who has sued thousands of small businesses in Northern California alleging violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury on charges that he filed fraudulent tax returns on funds he received from the lawsuits.

Johnson, a quadriplegic whose lawsuits have garnered settlements, forced ADA improvements at various storefronts and driven some firms out of business, was charged with three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott’s office said.

The indictment alleges that Johnson understated his income from 2012 through 2014 from settlements of lawsuits filed under the ADA, the visionary act signed into law by President George H.W. Bush in 1990.

Sac Bee, 5/23/19; see United States v. Johnson, No. 2:19-CR-0088-JAM.

 

Two Sacramento Guilty Verdicts Last Week

On November 14, a jury found the defendant guilty of 8 counts of preparing fraudulent tax returns in U.S. v. Bedoy, No. 2:16-CR-0166-KJM after a 6-day jury trial.  The next day, in U.S. v. Macias, No. 2:15-CR-0125-GEB, another jury convicted the defendant of cocaine trafficking charges but acquitted him of the 924(c) gun charge that carried a mandatory consecutive sentence.  [Updated 11/26/18]

Former IRS investigator sentenced to prison for tax fraud

"A Sacramento woman who worked as an IRS investigator was sentenced Tuesday to 51 months in prison for tax fraud, stealing government money and obstructing justice after filing false tax returns for three years and interfering in her investigation."  Sacramento Bee, 10/23/18

10-month sentence in tax fraud case

According to the Sacramento Bee,

A Loomis man has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for his role in a tax fraud scheme.

Slavic Khudoy, 37, was sentenced Wednesday in Sacramento by U.S. District Court Judge Kimberley J. Mueller, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release. Khudoy pleaded guilty in April.

 

Court documents indicate that between 2010 and 2012, Khudoy and Clint D. Bonderer, 38, of Stockton, submitted income tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service for others that contained false information about the taxpayers’ income, filing status and address, and fraudulently claimed credits that the taxpayers were not entitled to receive.

Khudoy and Bonderer submitted 842 fraudulent tax returns, requesting more than $600,000 in refunds in the names of other people. In most cases, authorities said, the two men kept the refunds themselves.

Bonderer was sentenced March 10 to three years in prison for conspiring to submit false claims.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/crime/article96528522.html#storylink=cpy

 

53-Month Sentence For Former IRS Employee

A former IRS employee was sentenced Wednesday to four years and five months in prison for claiming more than $1,745,000 in false tax returns, the Department of Justice said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Lauren Horwood said Monica Hernandez, 41, of Fresno, was a part-time data entry clerk in 2010 when she filed three tax returns for herself, each with false claims. In April 2010, Hernandez also stole 68 tax returns and used their information to file false tax returns benefiting herself, Horwood said.

Fresno Bee, 7/9/14

Chico Florist Convicted Of Contempt & Other Charges

A Chico florist who ceased paying federal payroll taxes in 2000 was convicted Tuesday on contempt and for filing false debt claims against officers.

A jury convicted James O. Molen, the 70-year-old owner of Touch of Class Florist, on two counts of contempt, two counts of filing false liens against federal officers and a count of interference with the administration of tax laws, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner.

Chico ER.  Case is United States v. Molen, No. 2:12-CR-0252-TLN.

Fresno Tax Evasion Indictment Filed

Jeffrey G. Vincent, general partner in Fresno-based engineering company Stafford Group Limited Partnership, has been arrested for tax evasion.

According to a federal grand jury indictment sealed today, Madera resident Vincent, 64, has not filed an individual income tax return since 1988, despite earning income of at least $457,365 between 2007 and 2010 from the Stafford Group, which does business as Veco Technologies.

Vincent also signed tax returns for the Stafford Group in which he falsely represented that he does not have a social security number, according to the indictment.

Business Journal, 3/27/14

Former Sacramento Attorney Sentenced To 46 Months

Former Sacramento attorney Donald Wanland was sentenced by Judge Karlton on Tuesday to 46 months imprisonment after a jury convicted him of tax evasion offenses in September.  Sacramento Bee, 3/25/14.

Five People Charged in Alleged Citrus Heights-Based Tax Fraud Conspiracy

Five people have been charged in federal court in Sacramento for their alleged involvement in a tax fraud conspiracy for filing multiple false tax returns claiming a first-home buyers credit run from the Citrus Heights business VK Tax Services. Sacramento Bee, 3/5/14

Seven Charged In Tax Refund Scheme From Susanville Prison

The EDCA U.S. Attorney has charged seven persons with conspiracy to defraud the United States in a scheme that allegedly used the identification of prison inmates in Susanville state prison to make fraudulent tax refunds.  Sacramento Bee, 2/27/14