SAN FRANCISCO - Brian Kenny pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false U.S. Income Tax Return, United States Attorney Melinda Haag and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge José M. Martinez announced.
According to the plea agreement, Kenny, 40, of San Francisco, incorporated his business, SF Bay Construction, Inc. on or about Feb. 17, 2005. SF Bay Construction is a subchapter “S" corporation, located in San Francisco, Calif. Kenny has been the sole shareholder of SF Bay Construction from its incorporation through at least Dec. 31, 2007. Kenny admitted that during the 2006 tax year, SF Bay Construction performed a variety of construction-related jobs for clients and received $1,309,833.77 in business income from those jobs. Kenny knew the amount of business gross receipts reported on SF Bay Construction’s income tax returns was material to the calculation of income tax owed on his personal income tax return because he was required to pay tax on SF Bay Construction’s business income. Kenny knew that his tax return preparer filed a 2006 federal income tax return that failed to report more than $470,000 in gross receipts and instead contained the false business income figure that Kenny had provided to the tax preparer.
Kenny was charged on July 25, 2013, with six counts of assisting in the filing of false tax returns. He pleaded guilty to one count. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 11, 2014, at 2:00 p.m., before The Honorable William H. Alsup, U.S. District Court Judge, in San Francisco. The maximum statutory penalty for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false U.S. income tax return, in violation of Title 26, U.S.C. § 7206(2), is three years in prison and a fine of $250,000. 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 United States Attorney who is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
