PREPAID PHONE CAR DISTRIBUTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Friday, July 27, 2012
New York Distributor of Prepaid Phone Cards Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Goher Yaqoob, a resident of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York to tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.

According to court records, Yaqoob, who sold prepaid phone cards through a distributorship business he owned, admitted that he filed a false individual income tax return and attempted to evade his income taxes for tax year 2002 by underreporting his income. Yaqoob admitted that his criminal conduct caused a tax loss of at least $147,323 between calendar years 2000 and 2003.

Yaqoob faces a potential maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. U.S. District Judge John Gleeson, who is presiding over the matter, set a sentencing date of Dec. 7, 2012.

The case was investigated by IRS - Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jorge Almonte and Jeffrey B. Bender of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

COURT STOPS EMPLOYEE BENEFIT TAX EVASION SCHEME

The following excerpt is from a Department of Justice website:

“Department of Justice  March 6, 2012
Federal Court in Illinois Shuts Down Nationwide “Employee Benefit Plan” Tax Scheme
A federal court has permanently barred Tracy L. Sunderlage, Linda Sunderlage and four companies from operating an alleged scheme to help high-income individuals attempt to avoid income taxes by funneling money through purported employee benefit plans, the Justice Department announced today.   Judge John W. Darrah of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered the permanent injunction orders, to which the defendants consented, against the Sunderlages, SRG International Ltd., of Nevis, West Indies, and three Illinois companies - SRG International U.S. LLC, Maven U.S. LLC and Randall Administration LLC.
                                 
 According to the government complaint , the defendants claimed to promote and operate plans that provide insurance benefits to participating companies’ employees, when in fact the scheme is simply a mechanism for the companies’ owners to receive purportedly tax-free or tax-deferred income for their personal use.   Tracy Sunderlage and the two SRG International companies allegedly marketed the scheme to high-income professionals who own small, closely held companies.  In the most recent version of the alleged scheme, each participant’s company made supposedly tax deductible payments to a purported benefit plan operated by Maven U.S. and Randall Administration.   The company’s contributions were then allegedly transferred to an account within a company based in the Caribbean island of Anguilla, in which they were allegedly invested until the owner terminated from the program and received the assets for his or her personal use.   The complaint alleged that many participants owned these accounts through offshore trusts, which Tracy Sunderlage and SRG International Ltd. often helped to establish.   The complaint alleged that participants from across the country have transferred at least $239 million as part of the scheme and that total contributions may exceed $300 million.

The injunction orders bar the defendants from operating or promoting any purported “welfare benefit plans.”   The court also ordered the defendants to provide the government with a list of their customers and to send copies of the injunction orders to their customers.”