Questions? Feedback? powered by Olark live chat software

CPA, Business Owner Defraud and Obstruct IRS, Convicted of Felony Tax Crimes

Florida Return Preparer Admits to Using Stolen Identities of Dead Taxpayers in IRS Refund Scam
January 23, 2019
Things You Need to Do Before You Do Your Taxes
January 29, 2019

CPA, Business Owner Defraud and Obstruct IRS, Convicted of Felony Tax Crimes

CDTFA Sales Tax Penalties Deadline

Defendants Wagdy Guirguis, business owner, and Michael Higa, Guirguis’ CPA, were convicted of a laundry list of tax crimes by a federal jury in Hawaii last November. Most of the numerous convictions involved Guirguis, who, with Higa’s ongoing assistance, executed an elaborate succession of tax crimes over the course of more than a decade. While the offenses varied in nature, all shared the same underlying purpose: to enable evasion of tax liabilities, in this case at both the personal and corporate levels. Guirguis and Higa, who were tried in Honolulu, now await sentencing. While their penalties are yet undetermined, the consequences seem likely to be harsh, considering the number of crimes that were carried out – and the scope of the resulting tax losses. Our criminal tax lawyers will update this story when the defendants are sentenced later this year.

Defendants Convicted on 12 Counts in Hawaii Criminal Tax Case

The indictment against co-defendants Guirguis and Higa, which is summarized in a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release issued November 2018, makes for an astonishing read. Over the course of years, the co-defendants engaged in a sprawling, multi-faceted tax evasion scheme that, between them, resulted in no fewer than 12 convictions. Guirguis was convicted of six different offenses on a total of 10 counts, including:

Higa, Guirguis’ accountant and co-conspirator, was also convicted of two offenses:

At sentencing, Higa and Guirguis will face, among other consequences, the following criminal penalties:

  • For each conspiracy count, up to five years in prison
  • For each tax evasion count, up to five years in prison
  • For each count of filing false returns, up to three years in prison
  • For each count of tax obstruction, up to three years in prison
  • For each count of failure to file a return, up to one year in prison

According to government records, the defendants began committing tax crimes as early as 2001, continuing through 2012, over which time Higa and Guirguis “used [a] nominee entity,” which was utilized to transfer a condominium to Guirguis’ spouse, “to divert approximately $1.3 million from Guirguis’ businesses for Guirguis’ personal use.” Not only was this entity used to “fraudulently convey” property; furthermore, when an IRS revenue officer (whose primary role is to collect outstanding tax debts) became suspicious regarding the condominium’s true ownership, the co-defendants responded by “instructing a bookkeeper to alter the books and records” so that the IRS would be hampered from tracing the transactions properly.

Why had Guirguis and Higa taken steps to transfer the condo in the first place? For the purpose of hiding the property from the IRS – which had previously “determined Guirguis’ businesses owed over $800,000 in federal employment taxes,” such as Medicare and Social Security taxes. Rather than remitting the withheld taxes to the government, as employers are required to do, Guirguis instead took steps “to pocket those funds [and] violate the trust of their employees and the United States,” in the words of Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman, who works within the DOJ’s Tax Division.

In addition to altering financial records, concealing assets from the IRS, “pocketing” employment taxes, and directing at least one employee “to sign a false statement” concerning his business bookkeeping activities, Guirguis also failed to report “millions of dollars of gross receipts” on corporate tax returns. In yet another instance, he simply failed to file a corporate income tax return outright, resulting in the concealment of “more than $1.7 million in gross receipts” from the IRS.

 

Criminal Tax Defense Lawyers Fighting Tax Evasion Charges

It doesn’t take a dozen tax crimes to attract the IRS’s attention – or to result in prison time. Any one of the offenses with which Higa or Guirguis were charged could lead to a taxpayer’s imprisonment, in addition to devastating criminal fines, civil fraud penalties, and IRS restitution orders. If you have failed to comply with tax laws in the past, it is urgent that you discuss your issue with a tax evasion defense lawyer before the situation escalates. The sooner a competent tax attorney becomes involved in your case, the better your options will be for reentering compliance with minimal damage and penalties. Our office has extensive experience in avoiding criminal tax prosecution where domestic or offshore income has been criminally evaded through domestic and / or offshore voluntary disclosures.




If an IRS criminal investigation begins, you are in serious danger as they have over a 90% conviction rate. If you are concerned about a personal, partnership, LLC or corporate tax issue, contact the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing online or at (800) 681-1295 for a confidential, reduced-rate legal consultation. We routinely serve clients throughout California, in the U.S., and abroad.

 


Also, we’ve expanded our offices! In addition to our offices in Irvine and Los Angeles, the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing now have offices San BernardinoSanta BarbaraPanorama CityOxnardSan DiegoBakersfieldSan Jose, San FranciscoOakland and Sacramento.

 

Note: If you have concerns about the privacy of our initial or subsequent communication and are unable to easily travel to our Irvine / Orange County Main Office, consider scheduling a GoToMeeting to safely and securely establish an initial or maintain an existing attorney client relationship.  With end-to-end encryption, strong passwords and top-rated reliability, no one is messing with your meeting. To schedule a reduced rate initial consultation via GoToMeeting follow this link.   Call our office and request a GoToMeeting if you are an existing client. We are generally happy to travel to any of our appointment only satellite offices for a subsequent meeting in appropriate circumstances once a relationship is established via a signed engagement letter and the payment of an initial retainer or where enough retainer is available where a current client to cover the reasonable travel time and time required for the meeting.

Will it cost me more to hire the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, whose main office and the vast majority of the firm’s staff is located in Irvine California, but an appointment only Satellite office is close to my location, as opposed to a local company? Absolutely not! See our policies that address this issue here:

Helpful Q and A libraries:

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/audit-representation-faq/

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/assisting-cpas-with-client-criminal-tax-exposure-faq/

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/criminal-tax-representation-faq/

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/irs-appeals-representation-faq/

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/non-filer-assistance-faq/

https://klasing-associates.com/topics/tax-litigation-faq/