{"id":57443,"date":"2024-09-05T17:20:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T00:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57443"},"modified":"2024-09-05T17:20:50","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T00:20:50","slug":"business-owner-admits-to-cheating-irs-out-of-nearly-60-million-in-withholding-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57443","title":{"rendered":"Business Owner Admits to Cheating IRS Out of Nearly $60 million in Withholding Taxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0RIVERSIDE, California\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Officials stated that the owner of Orange County-based temporary staffing companies pleaded guilty Thursday to two federal criminal charges for willfully evading the payment of nearly $30 million in taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Luis E. Perez also filed a false tax return to conceal nearly $30 million in addition to tax liabilities incurred by his staffing companies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perez, 55, who has maintained residences in Anaheim Hills, Yorba Linda, and Dove Canyon, pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis defendant\u2019s greed and lies lasted over a decade and caused tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes to the IRS so he could live a lavish lifestyle,\u201d said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Taxes\u201cFor nearly a decade, Mr. Perez committed tax evasion by withholding millions of dollars in payroll taxes from employee paychecks and using that money to purchase luxury items for himself,\u201d said Acting Special Agent in Charge Jose Gonzalez, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office.<\/span><\/p>\n

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According to his plea agreement, Perez\u2019s companies\u2014including Checkmates Staffing Inc., Staffaide Inc., BaronHR, LLC, BaronHR West Inc., and Fortress Holding Group LLC\u2014were responsible for withholding taxes from employees’ wages and paying them to the IRS. These taxes, known as “trust fund taxes,” include income taxes and FICA taxes, which fund Social Security and Medicare.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"From May 2009 to January 2017, Perez\u2019s companies failed to pay the IRS payroll taxes for several years, including 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Despite withholding these taxes from employees, the companies did not remit them to the IRS. The IRS began attempting to collect the outstanding taxes in 2007, but by February 2017, the total owed, including penalties and interest, had ballooned to $29,593,378.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perez tried to block the IRS\u2019s efforts to collect taxes by using his business accounts to buy luxury items, such as several cars and a boat, while hiding his ownership by putting the titles in the names of his businesses and other individuals.<\/span><\/p>\n

These luxury purchases included a Ferrari 360 Spider F, a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Duffy D 22 Bay Island boat, a Mercedes-Benz SLS, a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, and a Lamborghini Aventador.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Perez further evaded the IRS by obtaining a Visa Black credit card under someone else’s name (now his wife\u2019s) to make personal purchases, paying off the card with money from his business accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to these actions, Perez misled IRS agents by lying during interviews and omitting key information in documents he submitted. For example, he falsely claimed to earn just $1,000 per week from BaronHR and denied receiving other funds, when in reality, he funneled money to himself through payments made to his now-wife for his own benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Perez committed additional tax violations while on pretrial release for his earlier crimes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Between October 2018 and August 2019, Perez knowingly helped prepare false tax returns for BaronHR West, a temporary staffing company in Anaheim. <\/span><\/p>\n

In his plea agreement, he admitted that from January 2018 to June 2019, he caused the company to underreport employee wages and compensation by about $130,879,521. This led to a failure to pay roughly $29,633,516 in federal employment taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0U.S.\u00a0 District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato set a sentencing date for Jan. 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

He faces up to eight years in federal prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Perez has been in federal custody since August 15, when a federal magistrate judge revoked his bond after a two-day evidentiary hearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The judge found probable cause to believe that Perez had violated the terms of his pretrial release by committing even more criminal tax violations between 2021 and 2023. <\/span><\/p>\n

In a motion to revoke Perez\u2019s bond filed with the court on August 2, the government alleged that Perez had willfully caused his staffing companies to fail to pay over $25 million in federal payroll taxes (including over $13 million in federal trust fund taxes withheld from employee wages) since March 2021.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brett A. Sagel of the Corporate and Securities Fraud Strike Force, James C. Hughes of the Major Frauds Section, and Robert A. Kemins of the Department of Justice Tax Division are prosecuting this case.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Thursday to two\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57443\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Business Owner Admits to Cheating IRS Out of Nearly $60 million in Withholding Taxes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0RIVERSIDE, California\u00a0 Officials stated that the owner of Orange County-based temporary staffing companies pleaded guilty Thursday to two\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=57443\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta 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