NEWPORT NEWS, VA—Iraj a/k/a “Roger” Ahmadian, 54, of Collierville, Tenn., was sentenced today to 60 months in prison, followed by three years’ supervised release for embezzling more than $500,000 from his former employer, Dillon Stone Corporation, a Virginia Beach-based retail marble and granite tile company. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $508,998.99.
Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Jerome B. Friedman. Ahmadian pled guilty on August 6, 2010, to one count of bank fraud and one count of income tax evasion.
From October 2003 to January 2007, Ahmadian was an executive at Dillon Stone who oversaw the day-to-day operations of the company, including project estimating, sales and project management. Dillon Stone paid its subcontractors through weekly draws and reported these payments to the Internal Revenue Service on Forms 1099. To initiate payment, a project manager and/or Ahmadian would submit a subcontractor pay request, which operated as a vendor invoice, to the accounting department in Virginia Beach. Ahmadian had the authority to approve these subcontractor pay requests.
At the time Ahmadian began his employment with Dillon Stone, Ahmadian owned and operated his own company called National Marble Tile & Terrazzo, Inc. (NMTT), a corporation registered in Georgia, but operated out of Memphis, Tenn. NMTT was also engaged in the commercial tile business. NMTT was assigned an Employer Identification Number (EIN) by the IRS, and this number was used to open two bank accounts at First Tennessee Bank in Memphis.
On or about September 10, 2004, Ahmadian opened a nominee bank account at the First Tennessee Bank in the name of Phoenix Tile and Marble Company, Inc. On the account opening signature card, Ahmadian listed himself as the secretary/CEO of Phoenix Tile and indicated that the company was a corporation in good standing organized under the laws of Tennessee. Ahmadian provided the same IEN for Phoenix Tile that the IRS assigned to NMTT. The IRS does not assign the same EIN to multiple entities, regardless of ownership. At the time of this bank account’s opening and throughout Ahmadian’s tenure at Dillon Stone, Phoenix Tile was not an entity that was registered or licensed to operate in Virginia or Tennessee. The IRS did not issue an EIN for Phoenix.
From October 2004 to January 2005, Ahmadian caused Dillon Stone to issue approximately $53,026 in payments to the non-existent entity Phoenix Tile. From February 2004 to January 2007, Ahmadian also caused Dillon Stone to issue approximately 200 paychecks to subcontractors totaling over $500,000. Ahmadian caused the subcontractors’ endorsements to be forged and the money to be deposited into the NMTT and Phoenix Tile bank accounts for his own use, including for paying his mortgage, medical expenses, travel, and making payments to his wife and others.
Ahmadian filed no individual or corporate federal income tax returns, declaring income from Dillon Stone or any other source, for the years 2004 through 2006, until February 2009. After becoming aware of a criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI and IRS in February 2009, Ahmadian, filed with the IRS, Form 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns for the years 2004, 2005, and 2006 on the dates and showing taxable income and tax due and owing. At the time of filing, Ahmadian made no payments toward this admitted tax due and owing.
This case was investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant United States Attorney Brian J. Samuels prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vae. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.uspci.uscourts.gov.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that CARLOS GARCIA, 48, of Bayberry Lane, Guilford, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith in Hartford to mail fraud, wire fraud, and tax evasion charges stemming from a $2 million investment scheme.
“The Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office and our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners are committed to investigating investment fraud, prosecuting those who engineer these schemes, and seeking restitution for victims,” stated U.S. Attorney Fein.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from at least as early as 2002 until 2009, GARCIA purported to be an investment advisor/hedge fund manager, selling shares in “Paramount Equity Partners, LLC,” an investment vehicle that he represented would be used to invest client funds. GARCIA directed certain clients to cash out their stock holdings or other investments, obtain surrender checks by mail, and endorse the checks over to “Garcia Capital Management, LLC,” an entity that GARCIA controlled. GARCIA then deposited the surrender checks into the Garcia Capital Management, LLC bank account. GARCIA directed other clients to wire transfer money directly into the bank account for Paramount Equity Partners, LLC, and he then transferred those funds into the Garcia Capital Management, LLC bank account.
Instead of investing the funds as promised, GARCIA used clients’ money to pay for personal expenses for himself and his family, and to make “lulling” payments to clients. Through this scheme, GARCIA victimized at least 10 people and caused a net loss to his victims of more than $2 million.
As part of the scheme, GARCIA created and mailed bogus account statements and correspondence to his client victims that discussed the returns they were earning on their investments. In some cases, GARCIA also created false federal Internal Revenue Service Form 1065 Schedule K-1s so that victims filed false tax returns and paid taxes on returns they never earned.
GARCIA also willfully evaded the payment of income taxes for the tax years 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008, resulting in a tax loss to the government of $38,145.
Today, GARCIA pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, one count of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion. GARCIA is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on January 25, 2011, at which time GARCIA faces a maximum term of imprisonment of 60 years and a fine of up to approximately $4 million. GARCIA also will be ordered to pay restitution to his victims and to resolve his outstanding tax liabilities with the IRS.
This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Susan L. Wines.
U.S. Attorney Fein noted that this prosecution falls under the umbrella of the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The Task Force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes. For more information on the task force, visit: www.StopFraud.gov.

Daniel McMullen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Mississippi, and James C. Lee, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CID), New Orleans Field Office, stated that JEFFREY LYNN WALKER, age 47, was arrested on November 2, 2010, by FBI agents in Nashville, Tennessee, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued on October 21, 2010. WALKER was indicted on October 20, 2010, by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Mississippi. The indictment alleges 12 counts of wire fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering.
The indictment is the result of a joint investigation by the Jackson Field Office of the FBI and the IRS-CID. According to the indictment, WALKER, a former NFL football player, has been involved in a scheme to defraud investors located in Mississippi, Tennessee, Florida, and Arizona out of millions of dollars.
WALKER, who previously resided in Madison County, Mississippi, allegedly devised a scheme to defraud and obtain money from investors by making false and fraudulent representations relating to a resort project in China being developed by his companies, Charter Resources International and Sterling Group Holdings, Inc. To further the scheme, the indictment alleges that WALKER sold shares in Charter Resources International and executed joint venture agreements between companies, in which he held a controlling interest, and investors to share in profits to be generated from the sale of estate homes, town homes and patio homes in the China resort. The indictment states that WALKER caused investors to make interstate bank wire transfers and, as part of the scheme, WALKER then deposited investor funds into Sterling Group Holdings, Inc.’s bank account and converted portions of those funds to his own personal use and benefit, purchasing four-wheelers, a luxury conversion van, and a Hummer H-2 vehicle. WALKER is also accused of making false declarations to the Internal Revenue Service, through which he failed to report all of his taxable income for the years 2004, 2005 and 2006.
WALKER will make his initial appearance in the United States District Court of the Middle District of Tennessee. It is expected that extradition proceedings will commence and that WALKER will be returned to Mississippi to face these charges against him. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jerry Rushing and Carla J. Clark.
The public is reminded that an indictment and warrant for arrest contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. Defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial, at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Va., returned an indictment against a married couple from Fairfax Station, Va., for conspiracy, bank fraud and tax evasion, the Justice Department today announced.

According to the indictment, Kevin and LuAnn Shaffer were co-owners of a Manassas, Va.,-based consulting business named Matrix-DSS. From 2003 to 2006, the indictment alleges that the couple conspired to defraud four separate banks, including attempting to secure approximately $5.6 million from one bank for a home loan. The Shaffers are accused of submitting false information to their lenders that overstated their assets and made other material misrepresentations, including inflated 401(k) account balances, false W-2 forms, false pay stubs and false wage information.

In addition, the couple are charged with four counts of tax evasion for allegedly failing to make an income tax return for the calendar years 2005 to 2007 and for understating their taxable income in 2004 by more than $380,000.

Finally, Kevin Shaffer is also accused of failing to account for and pay over to the IRS more than $200,000 in federal taxes that he withheld from the paychecks of Matrix DSS employees from July 1, 2006, to Jan. 31, 2008.

The 12-count indictment, which was unsealed today, was announced by John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice, Tax Division; U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia; and Rebecca A. Sparkman, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation’s Washington, D.C., Field Office.

The case is being investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Office and U.S. Secret Service. Trial Attorney Tracy L. Gostyla from the department’s Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles F. Connolly from the Eastern District of Virginia are prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

Concealed from IRS Millions of Dollars of Profits Made from “Flipping” Hundreds of Properties Bought at Foreclosure Auctions

GREENBELT, MD—Chief U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow sentenced Minh-Vu Hoang, age 58, of Bethesda, Maryland, today to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee in connection with a scheme to conceal millions in profits earned from the purchase and sale of hundreds of foreclosure properties. Judge Chasanow also sentenced her husband Thanh Hoang, age 65, also of Bethesda, to a year and a day in prison followed by two years of supervised release for conspiracy to impede the IRS in connection with his role in the scheme.
The sentences were announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation; Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy; and Special Agent in Charge Richard McFeely of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“This was a transparent scheme to defraud the United States,” stated Rebecca Sparkman, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office. “The IRS-Criminal Investigation is proud to be part of the law enforcement team that is having an impact on this criminal activity.”
According to their plea agreements, the Hoangs and other family members purchased property at foreclosure auctions beginning in 1999, and resold some of the properties at a profit. The Hoangs and others deposited and withdrew money from an escrow account for the purchase and sale of properties, and transferred money from the escrow account to business entities they controlled in order to conceal their financial interests in the properties. From 2000 to 2005, the Hoangs and others purchased and sold hundreds of foreclosure properties using the names of their agents or business entities to conceal their involvement in the purchase and sale of the properties, and thereby avoid taxes.
On May 10, 2005, Minh-Vu Hoang filed for bankruptcy in Maryland. She filed several false schedules and a false statement of financial affairs with the bankruptcy court in support of her bankruptcy petition in which she: reported a financial interest in only six properties, knowing that she had an interest in other properties; substantially under-reported the income she earned in 2003 and 2004; and failed to report her interest in various bank accounts.
The court determined today that the tax loss from the fraud was between $2.5 and $7 million. Because the bankruptcy proceedings are ongoing, the court made no separate determination of the bankruptcy loss.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the IRS – Criminal Investigation; Special Investigator Daniel N. Wortman of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office; the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Greenbelt Office of the United States Trustee Program, the Department of Justice agency that supervises bankruptcy cases and trustees, for their work in this investigation and prosecution. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys David I. Salem and Emily N. Glatfelter, who prosecuted the case.

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in New Haven has returned an 11-count indictment charging STEVEN J. KOTTAGE, 44, and GENARO R. HATHAWAY, 46, both of Weston, and MARY ELLEN DURSO, 53, of Milford, with conspiracy and other offenses stemming from the defendants alleged involvement in mortgage fraud.

The indictment alleges that KOTTAGE and HATHAWAY, who are married, conspired to commit wire fraud relating to a home on Fire Island, New York. HATHAWAY, a former attorney in Connecticut and New York, and KOTTAGE purchased and financed the property in the name of KOTTAGE’s mother by filing false loan applications to Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. In each instance, HATHAWAY served as the closing attorney on behalf of KOTTAGE’s mother and Wells Fargo. The indictment further alleges that HATHAWAY subsequently purchased the property from KOTTAGE’s mother’s estate in his own name and, in so doing, made a materially false loan application to H&R Block Home Mortgage to obtain a separate mortgage. Rather than using the sale proceeds due and owing to KOTTAGE’s mother’s estate to pay off the outstanding loans issued by Wells Fargo, KOTTAGE and HATHAWAY used those proceeds to pay off an obligation arising from a separate real estate transaction in which HATHAWAY served as the closing attorney for the seller. The losses resulting from this alleged conspiracy exceed $500,000.

The indictment further alleges that KOTTAGE, HATHAWAY, and DURSO conspired to commit bank fraud by filing a materially false loan application to Washington Mutual to refinance a condominium in Hillsboro Beach, Florida. DURSO served as the straw owner for the condo in order to obtain the fraudulent loan proceeds for the benefit of KOTTAGE and HATHAWAY.

The indictment also charges HATHAWAY with tax evasion in 2005 and DURSO with filing false tax returns from 2004 to 2008.

The indictment charges KOTTAGE and HATHAWAY with two counts and DURSO with one count of conspiracy, a charge that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years on each count. The indictment further charges KOTTAGE and HATHAWAY with two counts of wire fraud, a charge that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years on each count. KOTTAGE, HATHAWAY and DURSO are each charged with one count of bank fraud, which carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years. The one count of tax evasion against HATHAWAY carries a maximum term of imprisonment of five years, and the five counts of filing false tax returns against DURSO carry a maximum term of imprisonment of three years, on each count.

U.S. Attorney Fein stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David T. Huang.

In July 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the formation of the Connecticut Mortgage Fraud Task Force to investigate and prosecute mortgage fraud cases and related financial crimes occurring in Connecticut. In addition to investigating past mortgage fraud schemes, the Task Force will focus on emerging crime trends that are associated with the growing tide of foreclosures, including foreclosure rescue schemes, and short sale schemes. Citizens are encouraged to report any suspected mortgage fraud activity by calling 203-333-3512 and requesting the Connecticut Mortgage Fraud Task Force, or by sending an email to ctmortgagefraud@ic.fbi.gov.

The Connecticut Mortgage Fraud Task Force includes representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office; Federal Bureau of Investigation; Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General; Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of Inspector General, and State of Connecticut Department of Banking.

To report financial fraud crimes, and to learn more about the President’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, please visit www.stopfraud.gov.

According to a January 4, 2010 Bloomberg Report, Bradley Birkenfeld, was a key informant in a U.S. investigation of offshore tax evasion aided by US Bancorp (UBS). On Jan. 8, Birkenfeld reported to prison for a 40-month prison term as ordered by U.S. District Judge William Zloch in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

“I gave them the biggest tax fraud case in the world,” said the 44-year old Birkenfeld. “I exposed 19,000 international criminals. And I’m going to jail for that?”

Birkenfeld, a former banker with USB AG, pleaded guilty in 2008 to helping California billionaire Igor Olenicoff and hundreds of others evade taxes. Before his sentencing, Birkenfeld cooperated with the Justice Department, a U.S. Senate investigation and the Internal Revenue Service probe of the Zurich-based financial giant, detailing how UBS helped Olenicoff and other rich Americans evade taxes.

Birkenfeld, a former UBS banker, sought a postponement of the term imposed Aug. 21 by, and a new hearing to seek a shorter sentence. He promised to continue cooperating with prosecutors. Zloch denied the request in a one-page order.

“It’s a setback for whistleblowers everywhere,” said Birkenfeld attorney Stephen Kohn, executive director of the National Whistleblowers Center in Washington. “It just undermines the public interest that thousands of major tax cheats all escape any prosecution, and the one person who turned it in gets the longest sentence.”

In February 2009 the court ordered USB to pay $780 million in fines and to hand over data on 250 accounts to avoid prosecution. It agreed in August to turn over data on another 4,450 clients sought by the IRS.

At Birkenfeld’s sentencing on Aug. 21, 2009 the DOJ prosecutor, Kevin Downing stated that the U.S. couldn’t have unraveled the bank’s “massive tax fraud scheme” without his help. Prosecutor Downing recommended a minimum sentence of 30-months for Birkenfeld, since he wasn’t initially truthful about his dealings with Olenicoff.

In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Birkenfeld said he didn’t deserve to go to jail when other bankers and clients haven’t. Birkenfeld also seeks a reward from the IRS of up to 30 percent of the taxes collected based on his information.

Olenicoff, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to filing a false tax return, got two years probation and paid $52 million in back taxes, fines and penalties. Last year, six former UBS clients pleaded guilty. While one got 12 months house arrest, none was sentenced to more than three months in prison.

Birkenfeld, who is under house arrest with electronic monitoring in Massachusetts, filed a motion Dec. 26 seeking a delay in his prison term and a hearing on a reduced sentence.

In that motion, Birkenfeld’s lawyers said he has been “ready, willing and able” to provide continued assistance to the government, and prosecutors had not taken him up on the offer.

In the four months after his sentencing, “the government has neither met with Mr. Birkenfeld nor asked him a single question about UBS, Swiss private banking, or any of Mr. Birkenfeld’s former U.S. clients.” His lawyer also spoke once to U.S. authorities on Dec. 14 about Birkenfeld’s former UBS clients, according to the filing.

In a Dec. 7 letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Kohn also said that his client told the Senate, the IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2007 about Olenicoff. “There clearly was a breakdown in communication between DOJ and Mr. Birkenfeld,” Kohn wrote. “There also appears to have been a breakdown in the cooperation and information sharing between various government entities.”

Birkenfeld was indicted with a Liechtenstein investment adviser, Mario Staggl, who was declared a fugitive. Two former UBS bankers, Raoul Weil and Hansreudi Schumacher, and a Swiss lawyer, Matthias Rickenbach, also were indicted in the U.S. and declared fugitives.