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Utah Man Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion, Filing False Claims and Fictitious Financial Instruments
Paul Ben Zaccardi, a resident of Sandy, Utah, has pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion, five counts of filing false claims for income tax refunds, and three counts of filing fictitious obligations, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.
Zaccardi was charged by superseding indictment on January 8 and released following his guilty plea. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell.
According to the superseding indictment, in April 2004, Zaccardi embarked on a scheme to evade the payment of his income taxes. As part of that scheme, Zaccardi re-titled his residence so that it was not in his name and caused his business receipts to be deposited into his wife’s account.
Zaccardi also presented five separate tax returns to the IRS claiming bogus refunds totaling $1,510,251. In addition, from June 2008 to October 2011, Zaccardi presented three false and fictitious financial instruments to the IRS, the U.S. Treasury, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah for a combined total of $6.05 million for the purported payment of his federal income tax liabilities.
Zaccardi faces a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for each conviction of submitting fictitious obligations to the United States, a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each conviction of presenting false, fictitious and fraudulent claims to the United States, and a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for the tax evasion conviction.
This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Stuart Wexler and Ryan Raybould of the Tax Division.
The case highlights the importance of individuals paying their fair share of taxes and the consequences of attempting to evade those taxes.
Key Facts
- State: Utah
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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