Saratoga Man Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Jonathan Jianguo Jiang pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion, United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Jose M. Martinez announced.

According to his plea agreement, on January 28, 2004, Jiang incorporated SecureM in the Cayman Islands. He was the director, president, and sole shareholder of SecureM. On April 17, 2004, SecureM was sold to a UK company for at least $8,600,000. From the sale of SecureM, Jiang received capital gains of at least $113,462 during 2004, $195,000 during 2005 and $2,635,575 during 2006, which he willfully omitted from his 2004, 2005, and 2006 federal income tax returns. These omissions resulted in $467,336 in additional tax due.

On March 6, 2012, Jiang, 47, of Saratoga, California, was charged with one count of willfully attempting to evade or defeat tax for the 2004 tax year. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Due to Jiang’s regular travel overseas, Jiang posted a bond of approximately $2,044,144.20.

The maximum statutory penalty for Tax Evasion, in violation of Title 26, U.S.C § 7201 is five years in prison and a fine of $100,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Cynthia Stier is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting this case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation