SAN FRANCISCO - Muzaffar Hussain was sentenced today to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $495,000 in restitution for his failure to account for and pay over trust fund taxes, announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Batdorf. The sentence follows a guilty plea entered last year in which Hussain admitted he did not account for and pay over funds withheld from the wages of employees of Crossroads Home Health Care, Inc. (Crossroads).
Hussain, 69, of Pleasanton, Calif., and Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty on June 10, 2016, to failing to account for and pay over the trust fund taxes. According to the plea agreement, Hussain was the Chief Financial Officer of San Francisco Bay Area-based Crossroads. Hussain admitted that for each pay period between July 1, 2004, and Feb. 27, 2008, he received a Payroll Summary showing wages that had been paid and the employment taxes due. After receiving the Payroll Summary, the defendant transferred funds from Crossroads’ bank account in an amount equal, or close to, the amount of employment taxes, to bank accounts he controlled. Hussain used the transferred monies, including the trust fund taxes, for his own personal use, including funding his other business interests. Defendant also admitted that he intentionally caused a payroll service to prepare and file false Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns [Forms 941], informing the payroll service that Crossroads had paid fewer wages than it actually paid.
Hussain, was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 30, 2015. He was charged with making or subscribing false tax returns, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); willful failure to truthfully account for and pay over taxes, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7202; and structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements, in violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5324(a)(3). Pursuant to his guilty plea, Hussain pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to truthfully account for and pay over taxes. The remaining counts were dismissed.
The sentence was handed down by the Honorable Jon Tigar, U.S. District Judge. In addition to the prison term and restitution, Judge Tigar also sentenced the defendant to a three-year period of supervised release. Judge Tigar ordered the defendant to begin serving the sentence on or before Aug. 2, 2017.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Stier is prosecuting the case. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
