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    United States Attorney's Office
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    Thom Mrozek
    Public Affairs Officer

    (213) 894-6947
    thom.mrozek@usdoj.gov



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    Release No. 10-083

    May 11 , 2010

    PROMOTER OF TAX-AVOIDANCE SCHEME ADMITS FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS WITH THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE

    LOS ANGELES – A Huntington Beach man who sold videotapes and books that promoted his strategy to use corporations to conceal personal income has pleaded guilty to using his corporations to hide income from federal tax authorities.

    Dana Ray Reynolds pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to two counts of subscribing to false tax returns for the years 2002 and 2003 and admitted that he failed to report well over $300,000 in income to the Internal Revenue Service in each of the years.

    Reynolds, who promoted his tax-avoidance strategy through companies such as Repackaging America, Inc. and Incorporating You, Inc., used these companies to pay personal and family expenses. Reynolds also used the corporations to conceal assets, such as automobiles, recreational vehicles and at least one vacation home. Reynolds did not report the money taken from the corporations as income, causing tax losses of more than $80,000 to the IRS.

    Reynolds, who was scheduled to go to trial today, pleaded guilty before United States District Judge A. Howard Matz, who is scheduled to sentence the defendant on September 13. At sentencing, Reynolds faces a statutory maximum sentence of six years in federal prison.

    “As a promoter of tax-avoidance strategies, Ray Reynolds developed techniques to conceal personal assets and income, and to avoid the payment of liabilities, including income taxes, through the creation of corporations,” said Leslie P. DeMarco, Special Agent in Charge of IRS - Criminal Investigation’s Los Angeles Field Office. “To market his concealment and avoidance strategies, Mr. Reynolds highlighted his own elaborate lifestyle made possible by following the plans he developed. Now, Mr. Reynolds faces federal prison for having subscribed to false tax returns and his own misguided marketing.”

    The case against Reynolds was investigated by IRS - Criminal Investigation.

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    Release No. 10-083

    Return to the 2010 Press Release Index