RENO - An Atlanta businessman who pleaded guilty last October to conspiring to defraud the IRS by transferring business income to offshore corporations, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge David W. Hagen to five years probation and 12 months of home detention, and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine, announced Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice Tax Division, Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada, and Nancy Jardini, Chief of IRS Criminal Investigation.

ROBERT F. HOLLIDAY, of Atlanta, Georgia, owner of an internet escort business, sought assistance from Reno resident Lawrence Turpen to evade the assessment and collection of federal income taxes. Turpen is a former dentist who became a full-time financial consultant and authored the book, "How And Why Americans Go Offshore." HOLLIDAY and Turpen set up Business Directions, Inc., a Nevada corporation, and Landmark Planning, Ltd., an Isle of Man corporation, and disguised HOLLIDAY'S interest in them through the use of nominee individuals and resident agent services. HOLLIDAY and Turpen conducted sham transactions to move income to the untaxed offshore corporation and to reduce or eliminate the corporate tax liabilities of the Nevada corporation. HOLLIDAY also provided false information to his tax return preparer concerning Business Directions, Inc., and caused false corporate income tax returns to be prepared for the tax years 1996 through 2002, resulting in a total tax loss to the United States of more than $200,000.

Turpen also pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS, and was sentenced on December 13, 2004, to three years probation and six months of home detention.

Judge Hagen ordered that HOLLIDAY must divest himself of his escort service-related businesses at market value, and not associate with any businesses involving escort services or prostitution. HOLLIDAY must also wear an electronic monitoring device during the period of home detention, and will only be permitted to leave his residence with the specific approval of the United States Probation Office.

The cases were investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, and prosecuted by U.S.
Department of Justice Tax Division Trial Attorneys Caryn D. Mark and Edmund P. Power, and
Assistant United States Attorney Brian Sullivan.

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