Louisiana Business Owners Plead Guilty to Filing False Individual Income Tax Returns

Two owners of a Metairie, Louisiana, business each pleaded guilty to one count of willfully filing false 2011 income tax returns today, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Rommel Cordova, 35, of Luling, Louisiana, and Saul Ramirez, 43, of Kenner, Louisiana, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon. They were both charged on Nov. 4, in a single Bill of Information with willfully filing false 2011 individual income tax returns.  According to court documents, Cordova and Ramirez owned and operated Skill Labor Provider Inc. a Metairie labor services business.  Cordova and Ramirez each owned 50 percent of the business and shared equally in its net income.

As part of their guilty pleas, Cordova and Ramirez admitted that during calendar years 2010 and 2011, they cashed and caused to be cashed, checks made payable to Skill Labor Provider Inc. and other business checks at a check cashing business in Kenner. Cordova and Ramirez caused false corporate income tax returns for Skill Labor Provider Inc. for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 to be prepared that did not accurately report the gross receipts, labor expenses deductions, or net income of the business.  During this period, the corporate tax returns underreported the business’s gross receipts by more than $6 million.  Cordova and Ramirez also separately filed their respective individual income tax returns for tax years 2010, 2011 and 2012, on which they failed to accurately report the amounts of business income they received from Skill Labor Provider Inc.

At sentencing, each defendant faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, one year of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss caused by the offense, a $100 special assessment and restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U. S. Attorney Polite commended special agents of the IRS—Criminal Investigations and Homeland Security Investigations, who investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hayden Brockett and Tax Division Trial Attorney Michael P. Hatzimichalis, who are prosecuting the case.