Meridian Builder Sentenced for Tax Evasion

Meridian Builder Sentenced for Tax Evasion

BOISE, ID – Elaine Martin, 69, of Meridian, Idaho, the former president and majority stockholder of MarCon, Inc., pleaded guilty to one count of making and subscribing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

Following the entry of her plea, Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill sentenced Martin to 60 months’ imprisonment on wire fraud, mail fraud, and interstate transportation of property taken by fraud convictions, and 24 months’ imprisonment on the tax conviction, those sentences to run concurrently.

Martin was also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS and Idaho Department of Transportation in the amount of $131,400.48, costs of prosecution in the amount of $22,859.60, and a forfeiture money judgment of $3,084,038.05.

This case stems from a 26-day trial in 2013, where Martin was convicted of 22 criminal counts, including four counts of filing false individual and corporate tax returns, two counts of conspiracy to defraud the United States, five counts of wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud, one count of false statement, three counts of interstate transportation of property taken by fraud, one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice and one count of obstruction of justice.

Martin admitted to signing false and fraudulent Form 1120S income tax returns for MarCon, Inc., a construction company that was located in Meridian, Idaho, for tax years 2005 and 2006. She caused these tax returns to be false and fraudulent by keeping the unreported income off of the books.

Martin’s actions resulted in a total tax loss of $73,678, and her behavior affected the award of contracts pursuant to the 8(a) Program and DBE Programs. MarCon participated in the SBA 8(a) Program and maintained a virtual monopoly in its geographic region between 2000 and 2006.

On August 7, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit vacated Martin’s sentence and her tax convictions, and remanded the case for further proceedings, including resentencing on the fraud charges.