Income Tax Evasion

A Thousand Oaks man has been charged with six felony counts of state income tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay taxes for four years and filing false returns for two more, officials said. Marty Eil, 45, was taken into custody this week at the Valencia car dealership where he works as a finance manager. He has since posted bail and will be arraigned Nov. 13.

Leona Helmsley, the imperious Manhattan hotel magnate who was derided as "the Queen of Mean" in the late 1980s when she was on trial for income tax evasion and was deemed the woman New Yorkers most loved to hate, died Monday at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 87. Helmsley, whose $2.5-billion personal fortune last year had her tied as No. 117 on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans, died of heart failure, said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.

A Woodland Hills man pleaded guilty to charges of federal income tax evasion in connection with a health-care fraud scheme, officials said. Joshua Shideh, 36, could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. In a plea bargain Tuesday, he admitted evading $922,565 in income tax from 1993 to 1999. Shideh told U.S. District Judge Nora M.

A former San Diego police officer pleaded guilty Wednesday to evading $63,000 in income taxes from 2001 to 2003 on his salary and money he made selling property stolen from the police evidence room on EBay. James Estrella, 46, faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 5 in federal court. He has also pleaded guilty in Superior Court to four counts of receiving stolen property.

A La Crescenta couple have been sentenced to federal prison for failing to pay income taxes on more than $1 million they took from two Montessori schools in La Canada. Alma Prismantas, 52, received a 30-month sentence while her husband, Manfred, 55, was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to income tax evasion before U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp on Monday.

Reputed organized crime figure Salvatore Pisello was found guilty on two counts of income tax evasion Friday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The verdict was handed down by U.S. District Judge William J. Rea, who presided over the non-jury trial. Pisello faces a maximum of a $100,000 fine and five years in prison on each of the counts, which cover income for 1984 and 1985. Earlier Friday, Judge Rea dismissed a third count of tax evasion for the year 1983.

Leona Helmsley, the imperious Manhattan hotel magnate who was derided as "the Queen of Mean" in the late 1980s when she was on trial for income tax evasion and was deemed the woman New Yorkers most loved to hate, died Monday at her summer home in Greenwich, Conn. She was 87. Helmsley, whose $2.5-billion personal fortune last year had her tied as No. 117 on the Forbes list of 400 richest Americans, died of heart failure, said her publicist, Howard Rubenstein.

Accompanied by their lawyer, a public relations representative and band of friends and supporters, former UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Robert A. Huttenback and his wife, Freda, surrendered to authorities today and were booked on suspicion of embezzlement, insurance fraud and tax evasion. Appearing voluntarily at the Santa Barbara County Jail at 9:45 a.m.

Darryl Strawberry, under terms of a plea bargain with the U.S. Attorney's office, will plead guilty to one felony count of income tax evasion and spend three months in a federal prison after the 1995 season, baseball officials confirmed Friday.

Three former UC Irvine physicians, already charged with mail fraud in the university's fertility scandal, have been indicted on income tax evasion counts, officials said Friday. A federal grand jury indictment alleges that Drs. Ricardo Asch, Jose P. Balmaceda and Sergio C. Stone essentially kept patients' cash payments off their books and filed fraudulent business and personal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service for 1991 and 1992.

A nationally known tax fighter who ran for governor of California two years ago has a straightforward answer to the charge that he failed to pay state taxes on $3 million in income: He doesn't have to. The state wants George "Nick" Jesson and his wife, Trina Thi Vu -- who appeared Monday at the West Justice Center in Westminster -- to pay $650,000 in unpaid taxes and penalties.

The Orange County Grand Jury on Thursday unsealed indictments against five people on numerous felony charges, including money laundering and state income tax evasion in connection with a larger statewide case involving Medi-Cal fraud, authorities said. Named in the indictments were Yakoob Habib, 55, and Rashida Kalia, 48, of Buena Park; Imran Igbal, 28, and Mohammad Shoaib, 35, of Fullerton; and Mohammed A. Tai, 52, of Cerritos.

A Thousand Oaks man has been charged with six felony counts of state income tax evasion for allegedly failing to pay taxes for four years and filing false returns for two more, officials said. Marty Eil, 45, was taken into custody this week at the Valencia car dealership where he works as a finance manager. He has since posted bail and will be arraigned Nov. 13.

Former Carson Mayor Michael Mitoma has agreed to plead guilty to failing to pay $3,846 in federal income tax on his official salary in 1995 and 1996, the U.S. attorney's office said Friday. In exchange for his plea to two misdemeanors in the tax case, prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence for Mitoma ranging from zero to six months in custody. "This is a crime of oversight," said his lawyer, Paul Potter. "He filed for extensions both times, but he never got around to following through.

A former personal injury attorney has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for income tax evasion. Derrick Anthony Hoo, 56, of Mission Hills, pleaded guilty to failing to report $281,000 in income between 1993 and 1997. Assistant U.S. Atty. Alka Sagar said Hoo tried to conceal his taxable income by paying his mortgage, car loan and other personal expenses out of 13 client trust accounts he maintained at six banks. He declared no taxable income in 1993, she said. U.S.