Month: November 2024

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An indictment was unsealed on Monday charging a Maryland man with COVID-19 relief fraud, not filing a tax return and not paying all required employment taxes.

According to the indictment, Vince Akins, of Ellicott City, allegedly owned and operated several transportation companies that serviced different federal agencies. Eventually all but one of those companies stopped operating. Nevertheless, Akins was allegedly responsible for withholding Social Security, Medicare and income taxes from his employees’ wages and paying those funds over to the IRS each quarter. Between 2019 and 2022, however, Akins allegedly did not pay to the IRS the full amount of the taxes withheld. 

In addition, in 2020, he allegedly filed four Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications using false IRS documents on behalf of his then-defunct companies. He received $387,220 in fraudulent PPP loans, which were later forgiven. When he obtained the loan proceeds, he laundered approximately $151,000 of it by transferring it to two personal bank accounts in Nigeria. Further, Akins allegedly did not file a personal return for 2020 despite being required by law to do so. 

Akins was charged with bank fraud, money laundering, employment tax violations and failure to file a tax return. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for each bank fraud charge, a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for each money laundering charge, a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each employment tax charge and a maximum penalty of one year in prison for the failure to file a return charge. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Joseph D. G. Castro of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

The Justice Department today announced a settlement and proposed consent decree with the Chicago Cubs to resolve alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) at Wrigley Field.

“The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that sports venues like Wrigley Field be accessible to people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities have full and equal access to public accommodations, including our ballparks.”

“As a result of this settlement, baseball fans with physical disabilities will have vastly improved options at Wrigley Field — on par with those available to all other patrons,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois. “The Chicago Cubs are to be commended for working collaboratively with our office to find solutions, demonstrating their commitment to providing accessibility for people with disabilities.”

The department filed a lawsuit in 2022 against the Cubs, alleging that the organization’s renovation and reconstruction of Wrigley Field — a multi-year undertaking known as “the 1060 Project” — discriminated against individuals with disabilities. The lawsuit alleged, among other things, that the Cubs failed to provide wheelchair users with adequate sightlines as compared to standing patrons and failed to incorporate wheelchair seating into premium clubs and group seating areas.

Under the settlement, the Cubs will make numerous remediations to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities, including by removing noncompliant wheelchair spaces and companion seats and replacing them with wheelchair spaces that have significantly improved views of the field and fully compliant sightlines. The remediations will take place in every area of the stadium, including incorporating wheelchair spaces and companion seats into premium club areas at the front of the grandstand that will, for the first time, provide some front-row access for fans in wheelchairs. The Cubs have also agreed to modify protruding objects along circulation paths within Wrigley Field and ensure that certain parking and shuttle services outside the stadium are compliant. All Cubs employees and contractors whose job responsibilities involve contact with patrons with disabilities will receive training on the settlement before each of the next three baseball seasons.

The settlement and proposed consent decree have been submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for final approval. Over the next several years, the Cubs will submit to the United States written reports detailing their compliance with certain obligations in the consent decree. The United States may review compliance with the consent decree, including by inspecting Wrigley Field, at any time during the next three years.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Abraham J. Souza and Patrick W. Johnson for the Northern District of Illinois handled the case.

For more information regarding the Justice Department’s efforts to combat discrimination in public accommodations, please visit the ADA’s government website.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

Earlier today, the Justice Department issued its sixth Annual Report to Congress on its efforts to combat elder fraud and abuse. The report summarizes the department’s extensive enforcement, victim support, training and myriad other efforts to promote elder justice during the reporting period from July 1, 2023, through June 30.  

This year, the department, working with local, state, Tribal and federal partners, pursued over 300 enforcement actions against over 700 defendants charged with stealing nearly $700 million from over 225,000 older victims. These enforcement actions disrupted transnational and domestic fraud schemes targeting older adults through romance, lottery or government impersonation scams; held nursing home operators to account for providing grossly substandard care to their residents; and pursued fraud perpetrators — including financial advisors, caregivers or relatives — who exploited their relationships with older adults for financial gain.

Additionally, the department continued to support victims of elder fraud and abuse. The department returned millions of dollars to victims of elder fraud schemes and worked with financial institutions to freeze over $27 million on behalf of older victims before those funds were transferred to fraudsters. The department bolstered the efforts of state and local organizations, like elder abuse multidisciplinary teams and Elder Justice Coalitions, to better serve older adults, while also supporting over 4,600 victim assistance organizations around the country to provide services to over 200,000 older victims. The department’s National Elder Fraud Hotline also received over 50,000 calls this past year, and helped older victims to report potential crimes and to locate available resources and services.

Over the past year, the department also conducted nearly 1000 elder justice events and trainings across the country to raise public awareness of elder fraud schemes. For example, the department hosted its first Elder Justice Law Enforcement Summit, which brought together representatives of state and local law enforcement organizations from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, to share best practices, tools and resources to combat elder abuse, neglect, financial exploitation and fraud. Likewise, the department worked closely with various other federal agencies on a coordinated public awareness campaign to highlight the dangers of government imposter scams and to provide tips on how to avoid such scams.

To report elder financial fraud, call the National Elder Fraud Hotline, 1-833-FRAUD-11 (1-833-372-8311). For more information on the department’s elder justice activities, please visit www.elderjustice.gov.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An Illinois tax return preparer was sentenced yesterday to 16 months in prison for preparing and filing false tax returns for clients. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, Gary Sandiego, of Barrington, owned and operated G. Sandiego and Associates, a tax preparation business. For tax years 2014 through 2017, he prepared and filed false income tax returns for his clients. Instead of relying on information provided by the clients, Sandiego either inflated or entirely fabricated expenses to falsely claim on the returns residential energy credits and employment-related expense deductions. As a result, Sandiego caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $4,586,154. 

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Jorge L. Alonso for the Northern District of Illinois ordered Sandiego to serve one year of supervised release and pay $2,910,442 in restitution to the IRS.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual for the Northern District of Illinois made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Andrew Kameros and Sara Henderson of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An Arkansas man was sentenced yesterday to 20 months in prison for filing a false individual income tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Carlos Gonzalez, 59, of Rogers, filed false tax returns that underreported the gross receipts from his tree-trimming and removal business, Charley’s Tree Service. From 2014 through 2020, Gonzalez cashed more than $3 million in customer checks instead of depositing them into his business’ bank account, knowing that his return preparer relied on the bank account records when preparing his returns. In addition, he did not tell his return preparer about the cashed checks. As such, the return preparer prepared tax returns that underreported gross receipts from his business resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of more than $900,000.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks for the Western District of Arkansas ordered Gonzalez to serve one year of supervised release and to pay approximately $1.4 million in restitution to the United States and the State of Arkansas.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Curtis Weidler and Wilson Stamm of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Marshall for the Western District of Arkansas prosecuted the case.