A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday against an Aliquippa, Pennsylvania husband and wife charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax evasion, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Scott W. Brady for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
According to the indictment, from 2005 to 2016, William and Danielle Rains engaged in a scheme to evade the payment of William Rains’s federal income taxes. The Rainses allegedly used nominees and multiple bank accounts, and filed false forms with the Internal Revenue Service to conceal William Rains’s income and assets from the IRS.
The indictment further alleges that William Rains failed to file individual income tax returns for tax years 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006 despite earning taxable income in those years, and allegedly filed false 2000 and 2001 returns that reported zero income. The indictment also charges that for these years as well as 2008, William Rains has been assessed over $200,000 in taxes by the IRS. If convicted, William and Danielle Rains each face up to 10 years in prison, a term of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. An indictment is an accusation. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Brady thanked the special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Shawn Noud and Christopher O’Donnell of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: US Department of Justice
