Contact: Assistant |
U.S. Attorney Julie Woods
(616) 456-2404

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Grand Rapids, Michigan – April 17, 2003 – United States Attorney Margaret M. Chiara and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division Special Agent in Charge Mark Kroczynski announced the sentencing of Rockford, Michigan, residents Jack E. Christians, age 69, and Ruth I. Christians, age 71, husband and wife, on April 14, 2003, by United States District Court Judge David McKeague. They had been found guilty of filing a false and fraudulent tax return for the 1995 tax year. The defendants were each sentenced to 27 months incarceration; they were ordered to pay a total fine of $60,000.00, for which they are responsible as a married couple; they were each ordered to pay a special assessment of $100.00; and they were each ordered to serve a two-year term of supervised release following their incarceration. The Christians are also required to cooperate fully with the Internal Revenue Service and satisfy all taxes due, along with penalties, from the 1995 tax year to the present.

In November 2002, a jury convicted the Christians of tax evasion following a three-day trial. The Christians sold 20 acres of commercial property in August 1995 to the Meijer company for $3.1 million. The property is located at Knapp and the Beltline on the Northeast side of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Most of the money was later transferred into a Barclays Bank account, located off shore in the Cayman Islands, still under the complete control of the Christians. The Christians filed a 1995 federal tax return with no proceeds listed from the sale of the commercial property, causing an underpayment of approximately $835,000 in taxes due and owing.

This case was investigated by the Grand Rapids office of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

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