(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
 
 

Lake Charles, Louisiana . . .  ASHVINKUMAR GANDHI, age 51, of Galveston, Texas, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court before U.S. District Judge James T. Trimble to tax evasion, United States Attorney Bill Flanagan announced today.  Sentencing has been scheduled for January 8, 2002 at 10:30 a.m.

GANDHI was the owner of Gayatri, Inc. and the Lake Charles Days Inn Motel.  During the 1995 tax year, GANDHI attempted to evade the taxes due and owing by him in the amount of $114,852 to the United States by deleting from the motel computer system records of the majority of rooms which were paid for with cash and by removing all records associated with those deletions for later destruction.  The income obtained by GANDHI was not reported on his tax filings for the 1995 tax year, resulting in an additional tax of $114,852 due by him to the United States.

GANDHI faces a penalty of up to five years in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both.  Sentencing in federal court is governed by the United States Sentencing Guidelines.  Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

For further information, please contact United States Attorney Bill Flanagan at 318-676-3600 or Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry J. Regan at 337-437-7206.

This and other press releases issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana can be found at our website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/law.

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