Yoga Boss Gumucio Gets 4 Years for $1M Tax Dodge

NEW YORK, NY – Gregory Gumucio, 64, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, will spend the next four years behind bars after being sentenced today for a brazen, years-long scheme to evade paying taxes on the millions he raked in from his yoga empire, Yoga to the People (YTTP). U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton of the Southern District of New York announced the sentence, a victory for honest taxpayers tired of seeing the wealthy skirt the law.

Gumucio, the founder and de facto CEO of YTTP, built a nationwide business starting with a single studio on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 2006. While YTTP initially operated on a donation basis, it quickly blossomed into a profitable venture with over 20 studios across the country – including locations in California, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and Washington State – and a lucrative teacher training program. Between 2010 and 2020, YTTP and its affiliates generated over $20 million in gross receipts. Yet, the company *never* filed a corporate tax return with the IRS.

From 2012 to 2020, Gumucio personally pocketed nearly $3.5 million, while deliberately failing to file individual tax returns or pay a dime in income taxes. The feds say he lived large on the unpaid revenue, enjoying frequent foreign travel, expensive hotels, meals, and clothes, NFL season tickets, and country club memberships. He even had the gall to falsely report six-figure incomes to third parties – banks, car financing companies, and real estate entities – and once submitted a *fabricated* tax return prepared by an accomplice to further the deception.

“Gregory Gumucio built a profitable yoga empire and lived well off its success—but he refused to pay his taxes,” stated U.S. Attorney Clayton. “Hard-working, tax-paying New Yorkers want our Office to pursue business owners who game the tax system. With today’s sentencing, Mr. Gumucio is being held accountable.” Gumucio pleaded guilty on October 4, 2024, before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan, who delivered the four-year sentence.

The sentence doesn’t stop at prison time. Gumucio has been ordered to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $2,729,407.10 – a fraction of the estimated $1 million+ in taxes owed – and will face three years of supervised release after his incarceration. The case was spearheaded by the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, with assistance from the IRS Criminal Investigation’s New York and Dallas Field Offices, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General.

This case serves as a stark reminder that no one, not even a zen master of profit, is above the law. Gumucio’s attempt to fund his lavish lifestyle by cheating the system has backfired spectacularly, and he’ll have plenty of time to contemplate his choices during his four-year stay in federal prison. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rushmi Bhaskaran and Michael Neff prosecuted the case.