David S. Owens, Tax Evasion, Ohio 2023

A Columbus man has been ordered to pay nearly $450,000 in restitution and fines related to a tax conviction, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.

David S. Owens, 62, was ordered to pay $394,542 in restitution and fined $50,000. He was sentenced to six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release.

Owens previously pleaded guilty to one count of failure to account for and pay over employment tax.

“Business owners have a significant responsibility to collect and turn over all IRS withholding taxes,” Enstrom said. “Those who fail to do so to gain a competitive advantage that will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Between 2008 and 2009, Owens, through his Canfield, Ohio-based company, Advetech, Inc., made payroll tax withholdings from his employees’ paychecks, but failed to pay over those withholdings to the IRS in the approximate amount of $570,000, according to court documents.

Rather, during this period, Owens transferred hundreds of thousands of Advetech, Inc. dollars to at least two other Canfield companies owned and operated by Owens, including Brixton Development Corporation and Preferred Communities, Inc., from where he took hundreds of thousands of dollars in income for himself, according to the information.

The information was filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christos N. Georgalis after an investigation by agents of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration.

According to the information, David S. Owens, aka D. Scott Owens, engaged in tax evasion by failing to pay over employment tax withholdings to the IRS. He was sentenced to home confinement and supervised release in addition to paying restitution and fines.

Owens was ordered to pay $394,542 in restitution and fined $50,000 for his role in the tax evasion scheme. He must also serve six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndoh/pr/columbus-man-ordered-pay-nearly-450000-tax-violations