Following a six-day trial before United States District Court Chief Judge K. Michael Moore, a jury convicted husband and wife, Raul Sosa and Maura Sosa, of criminal tax offenses arising out of a five-year scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement.
According to evidence presented at trial, starting in 2003, Raul and Maura Sosa owned and operated Accion 1 Auto Sales, Inc., an automobile salvage and recycling business in Hialeah. After purchasing junked and non-functioning cars, the defendants would strip the cars, sell the usable parts and components to businesses in the secondary auto parts market, and then sell the remaining metal as scrap to a local metal recycler. On some occasions, the defendants would resell whole cars, without stripping them.
The defendants’ fraud scheme revolved around their underreporting of Accion 1’s annual sales revenue on the businesses’ federal income tax returns. Through this scheme, Raul and Maura Sosa depressed the net profits reported on the businesses’ returns, the income reported on their individual returns, and their federal income tax owed.
From 2004 through 2008, the Raul and Mara Sosa’s business had sales of over $28.6 million. However, the defendants’ reported only approximately 14% of their sales, or $3.9 million, on the businesses’ federal income tax returns during that period. As a result of the scheme the defendants failed to report at least $4.5 million in net profits from their business and defrauded the Internal Revenue Service out of over $1.6 million in federal income taxes.
Evidence introduced at trial included records and witness testimony indicating that the defendants’ spending in 2008, on automobiles, real estate, jewelry, and credit card payments exceeded the total income reported on their joint individual income tax return by at least $900,000.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced by Chief Judge Moore on Feb. 3, 2016, at 2:00 pm.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the IRS. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Davis and John Byrne.
Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
