PUYALLUP MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO BANK FRAUD, BANKRUPTCY FRAUD, AND EVASION OF TAXES
Defendant Owned and Operated Dump Truck Hauling Company and Rock, Dirt and Gravel Company
HENRY JAMES HOLST, 40, of Puyallup, Washington pleaded guilty yesterday to Bank Fraud, Bankruptcy Fraud, and Tax Evasion. HOLST operated Holst Enterprises Inc. – a dump truck hauling company – and Rock N Block, a company selling solid rock, gravel, dirt and block. HOLST is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Franklin D. Burgess on October 19, 2007.
According to the plea agreement, HOLST obtained a $750,000 Small Business Administration guaranteed loan from Viking Bank. The plea agreement describes how, within six (6) months, Holst had trouble repaying the loan. Instead of cooperating, Holst fraudulently and unlawfully sold company assets pledged to Viking Bank and to the SBA. Specifically, Holst converted his company’s trucks and trailers, which were among the more valuable items pledged as security. Holst compounded his situation by making false statements about the trucks to Viking Bank, the SBA, the IRS and to the trustee and creditors in United States Bankruptcy Court.
HOLST committed Bankruptcy Fraud in connection with various cashiers checks that he failed to list as assets as part of his bankruptcy – the checks totaled more than $115,000. HOLST admits he failed to pay $138,000 in payroll taxes in 2000, 2001, and 2002. HOLST admits he lied to the IRS about vacation property in Quincy, Washington that was up for sale at a time when he said he had no assets to pay the tax bill.
Bank Fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a one million dollar fine. Bankruptcy Fraud and Tax Evasion are punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The case was investigated by the Small Business Administration (SBA), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI), and by the FBI.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys David Reese Jennings and Kurt P. Hermanns.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office at (206) 553-4110 or Dan Wardlaw, Public Information officer for the IRS-CI at (360) 696-7647 (ext 3).
