Rindge Man Sentenced For Tax Evasion In Connection With Fraudulent Investment Operation

            CONCORD, N.H. – Aaron E. Olson, 41, of Rindge, New Hampshire, was sentenced to 60 months in prison for tax evasion in United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, announced United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice.    

            From 2007 through 2010, Olson was the sole proprietor of an investment business known as AEO Associates (AEO).  In December of 2010, Olson formed KMO Associates LLC (KMO), an investment business that was registered in Massachusetts.  Olson ran both operations from an office in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. Olson used AEO and later KMO to obtain approximately $27.8 million from individuals and organizations ostensibly to invest on their behalf.  Olson was not licensed as an investment broker in New Hampshire or in any other jurisdiction and he did not register AEO and KMO with the State of New Hampshire as investment businesses.

            Olson used approximately $2.6 million of the investors’ money for his personal benefit and used some of the investors’ money to make fraudulent “earnings” payments to other investors. To conceal this conduct, Olson sent investors fictitious earnings statements that falsely showed significant earnings in their accounts. 

            Olson also filed false and fraudulent joint individual tax returns with the IRS in which he attempted to evade or defeat taxes he owed based on his income from the fraudulent investment operation. Among other things, Olson failed to report the gross receipts and expenses associated with the operation of AEO and KMO and he failed to issue Forms 1099 with the Internal Revenue Service summarizing investors’ annual gains and losses. In total, Olson fraudulently understated the income taxes he owed for the four years by more than $664,000.                                                                             

            Olson pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted tax evasion on March 9, 2015. As part of a Plea Agreement, he agreed to pay restitution to the defrauded investors in lieu of paying the taxes he owes to the United States. A restitution hearing is scheduled on May 26, 2016.

            This case is being investigated by the office of Criminal Investigations for the Internal Revenue Service in conjunction with the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mark S. Zuckerman. 

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