FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FRIDAY, MAY 7, 2004 WWW.USDOJ.GOV |
TAX (202) 514-2007 TDD (202) 514-1888 |
COURT BARS ORYAN MANAGEMENT AND FOUR INDIVIDUALS
FROM SELLING ABUSIVE TAX SCHEMES
California-Based Company Sold “Websites” For Scheme That Allegedly Cost U.S. Treasury
An Estimated $99 Million
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today announced that a federal court in Las Vegas, Nevada, has issued permanent injunctions against Oryan Management and Financial Services (based in Ontario, California), ADA Adventure, and four individuals, barring them from organizing or selling abusive tax shelters or arrangements that advise or encourage customers to attempt to evade federal taxes. The orders also permanently bar the defendants from preparing federal income tax returns for others, require the defendants to give copies of the orders to their customers and require some defendants to post the orders on their websites. The defendants must also give lists of their customers’ names, addresses, and social security numbers to the Justice Department.
The four individual defendants covered by today’s court orders are all California residents-Daniel W. Porter of Chino, Robert Goetsch of Hayward, Michelle M. Hernandez of Upland, and Joseph Prokop of Mt. Baldy. The defendants agreed to the orders, which were signed by senior U.S. District Judge Lloyd George of the U.S. District Court for Nevada, without admitting wrongdoing.
Today’s order is the result of a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department
on April 14 against a telemarketing firm, the National Audit Defense Network,
known as NADN, and other defendants, including Oryan, ADA Adventure, and the
individuals included in today’s order. In that suit, court papers allege that
Oryan sold a sham-website scheme designed to enable customers to claim a bogus
disabled-access credit on their income tax returns. Justice Department filings
say that the “websites” were designed to help customers claim to have a
business with a website, and then improperly claim tax deductions and credits
for supposedly “modifying” the website-purportedly to comply with the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). A copy of the Justice Department’s
complaint is posted at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/04_tax_223.htm.
“The Department of Justice is committed to stopping the scams that defraud not only the Federal Treasury but also all the law-abiding taxpayers who are left to pick up the tab,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “A first step in this effort is to obtain court orders barring the scam promotions.”
This case is part of the Justice Department’s initiative to stop the spread of
fraudulent tax schemes. The Department has previously brought injunction suits
against other alleged tax-scheme promoters. Information on these suits can be
found at:
http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_649.htm
http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/03_tax_722.htm.
More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division is available at: http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html.
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