Category: US Department of Justice

Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division

An Austin, Texas, man pleaded guilty today to filing a tax return that falsely underreported the capital gains he earned from selling $3.7 million in bitcoin. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, between 2017 and 2019, Frank Richard Ahlgren III filed false tax returns that underreported or did not report the sale of $4 million worth of bitcoin in which he had substantial gains. All taxpayers are required to report any sale proceeds and gains or losses from the sale of cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, on their IRS tax return. 

Ahlgren was an early investor in bitcoins. In 2015, Ahlgren purchased approximately 1,366 bitcoins. That year, bitcoins were valued at no more than $500 each. In October 2017, Ahlgren sold approximately 640 bitcoins for approximately $5,807.53 per bitcoin for a total of $3.7 million. Ahlgren had purchased most of the bitcoins he sold in 2017 in 2015. He used the entirety of the proceeds from the sale of bitcoins to purchase a house in Park City, Utah. Ahlgren then filed a false tax return with the IRS for 2017 that substantially inflated the cost basis of the bitcoins, and therefore underreported his capital gain from his bitcoin sale.

In addition, in 2018 and 2019, Ahlgren sold more than $650,000 worth of bitcoins and did not report those sales on either years’ tax returns. 

In total, Ahlgren caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $550,000.

Ahlgren will be sentenced at a later date. He faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. 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 and U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western District of Texas made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation and the Texas Office of Attorney General are investigating the case.

Assistant Chief Michael C. Boteler and Trial Attorney Mary Frances Richardson of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney William R. Harris for the Western District of Texas 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

An Ohio man was sentenced to 20 months in prison today for conspiring to defraud the IRS by not reporting income he earned from his ownership and operation of illegal gambling businesses.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2010 through 2018, Jason Kachner, of Canton, along with Christos Karasarides Jr. and other co-conspirators, owned and operated two illegal gambling businesses, Skilled Shamrock and Redemption. From 2012 through 2017, patrons at Skilled Shamrock wagered a total of more than $34 million, which resulted in more than $4 million in income for the owners of the gambling business. Kachner conspired with his co-owners to defraud the IRS by using a nominee owner to conceal their ownership of the businesses and by filing false tax returns that omitted most of the income he received from the businesses.  

Overall, Kachner caused a loss to the IRS of $844,692.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent for the Northern District of Ohio ordered Kachner to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,393,024 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation, the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office, the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Inspector General, Homeland Security Investigations, the Ohio Casino Control Commission, and Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission-Major Crimes Task Force investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Sam Bean and Hayter Whitman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio prosecuted the case.  

Source: United States Department of Justice

The Justice Department announced today that it secured a settlement agreement with SP Plus Corporation (SP Plus), a transportation and parking management company headquartered in Chicago. The agreement resolves the department’s determination that SP Plus discriminated against a worker by rejecting a valid document that showed her permission to work and requesting that she provide unnecessary documentation, based on her national origin.

“It is unlawful for employers to reject a valid document showing someone’s permission to work because of where the person was born,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The department is committed to protecting workers from national origin discrimination in the hiring process and eliminating unnecessary barriers to employment.”

After conducting an investigation based on a complaint, the Civil Rights Division’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section (IER) concluded that SP Plus discriminated against a beneficiary of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) based on her national origin. TPS beneficiaries have permission to work in the United States. They can get Employment Authorization Documents that show employers their permission to work. Sometimes, the federal government extends these Employment Authorization Documents past the expiration date on the card. Instructions on how an employer can determine if an Employment Authorization Document has been extended by the federal government direct employers to look at the document’s category code and date of expiration. The department determined that instead of following the federal government’s instructions, SP Plus unlawfully rejected the worker’s valid, extended Employment Authorization Document because she was born in the Bahamas rather than Haiti, the country through which she has TPS. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibits employers from considering an employee’s country of birth or other national origin indicator when verifying a person’s permission to work.

Under the terms of the settlement, SP Plus will pay a civil penalty to the United States, and offer reinstatement and pay backpay to the affected worker. The agreement also requires the company to train its personnel on the INA’s anti-discrimination requirements, revise its employment policies and be subject to departmental monitoring. SP Plus cooperated with the division’s investigation.

IER is responsible for enforcing the anti-discrimination provision of the INA. Among other things, the statute prohibits discrimination based on citizenship status and national origin in hiring, firing or recruitment or referral for a fee; unfair documentary practices; or retaliation and intimidation. 

IER’s website has information about employers’ obligations not to discriminate when hiring workers with TPS and employment rights for workers with TPS. Learn about TPS from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ website. Learn more about IER’s work and how to get assistance through this brief video. Applicants or employees who believe they were discriminated against based on their citizenship, immigration status or national origin in hiring, firing, recruitment or during the employment eligibility verification process (Form I-9 and E-Verify); or subjected to retaliation, may file a charge. The public can also call IER’s worker hotline at 1-800-255-7688 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); call IER’s employer hotline at 1-800-255-8155 (1-800-237-2515, TTY for hearing impaired); sign up for a live webinar or watch an on-demand presentation; email IER@usdoj.gov; or visit IER’s English and Spanish websites. Sign up for email updates from IER.

Source: United States Department of Justice

An Ohio man was sentenced to over seven years in prison today for tax, money laundering and gambling crimes arising out of his ownership and operation of illegal gambling businesses and related misconduct. 

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2009 through 2022, Steven Saris owned and operated multiple illegal gambling businesses in Northeast Ohio — including Café 62, Lucky’s, Winner’s World, Spin City and another business in Springfield, Ohio — as well as in Florida. Saris concealed his involvement in and income from these businesses by having others serve as nominee owners, and by destroying and directing others to destroy business records. 

For tax year 2015, Saris filed a false tax return that did not report more than $1.4 million in income he received from his illegal gambling businesses. For tax years 2016 through 2021, Saris did not file tax returns or pay all the tax that he owed despite earning more than $9 million in income from his gambling businesses. During that time, Saris made only two nominal payments to the IRS in 2018 when he filed an application for an extension of time to file his 2017 return. Saris used his proceeds from the businesses to gamble millions at legal casinos and to acquire and renovate at least two residential properties located in Canton, Ohio.

Saris’s conduct caused a tax loss of $2,823,391.

In July 2018, law enforcement executed search warrants at multiple illegal gambling businesses and associated locations in Northeast Ohio. Following those search warrants, Saris made false statements to law enforcement. At the same time, Saris continued operating the illegal gambling businesses and did not disclose that to law enforcement. In August 2022, law enforcement executed a court authorized search warrant at Saris’ residence and for his cell phone. Upon learning of the search warrant for his cell phone, Saris told law enforcement that he did not know the location of his cell phone. Law enforcement recovered Saris’ cell phone from the water tank of a toilet in Saris’ residence.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent for the Northern District of Ohio ordered Saris to serve three of supervised release and pay $2,823,391 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation; the Stark County, Ohio, Prosecutor’s Office; the U.S. Department of Treasury Office of Inspector General; Homeland Security Investigations; the Ohio Casino Control Commission and the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, Major Crimes Task Force investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Sam Bean and Hayter Whitman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Toepfer for the Northern District of Ohio prosecuted the case.

Source: United States Department of Justice

Colombian nationals Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez, 40, and Ciro Alfonso Gutierrez Ballesteros, 31, were sentenced today to 35 and 30 years in prison, respectively, for conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. soldiers by detonating a car bomb outside a military base near the Colombia-Venezuela border.

According to court documents, Medina Rodriguez and Gutierrez Ballesteros, in concert with members of the 33rd Front, an extremist faction of Las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias (FARC), specifically targeted American troops stationed at the Colombian 30th Army Brigade Base in Cúcuta, Colombia. Co-conspirator Andres Fernando Medina Rodriguez used his status as a medically discharged Colombian army officer to gain access to the base, where he conducted photographic and video surveillance of the areas where the U.S. soldiers were primarily located.

Approximately 10 days before the attack, Medina Rodriguez and Gutierrez Ballesteros delivered a white SUV to their co-conspirators in the 33rd Front, who loaded it with an improvised explosive device.

On June 15, 2021, Medina Rodriguez drove the bomb-laden SUV to the 30th Army Brigade Base, eventually parking it in front of the location where U.S. and Colombian military personnel worked.  Gutierrez Ballesteros, riding a motorcycle, escorted Medina Rodriguez.  Once inside, Medina Rodriguez activated the bomb’s timer device and left the area on foot before fleeing on the motorcycle driven by Gutierrez Ballesteros.  Three U.S. Army soldiers and 44 Colombian military personnel were injured in the blast. 

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and Executive Assistant Director Robert Wells of the FBI National Security Branch made the announcement.

The FBI with assistance from the FBI Legal Attaché in Bogotá, the Fiscalía General de la Nación de Colombia and the National Police investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Browne and Abbie Waxman for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney David C. Smith for the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section prosecuted the case. Former Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy A. Hummel and Andy R. Camacho for the Southern District of Florida also contributed significantly to the investigation and prosecution.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section’s Office of the Judicial Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá worked with Colombian authorities to secure the arrest and extradition of Gutierrez Ballesteros and Medina Rodriguez.