KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tom Larson, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a former Leawood, Kan., business owner has been indicted by a federal grand jury for tax evasion.
Barrett Prelogar, 46, of Leawood, was charged in a two-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. That indictment was unsealed and made public upon Prelogar’s arrest and initial court appearance today.
Prelogar was a partner in now-defunct Winntech Digital Systems, Inc. The federal indictment charges Prelogar with one count of tax evasion and one count of corruptly endeavoring to impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws.
According to the indictment, Prelogar engaged in several strategies from May 2011 to March 28, 2016, to avoid paying taxes and penalties he owed to the government. Prelogar allegedly used corporate funds to pay his personal expenses, structured cash withdrawals from Winntech’s bank account to avoid federal reporting requirements, and cashed his payroll checks from his wife’s company, Bareskull Innovation, LLC, rather than placing the money into a personal bank account. Prelogar, the indictment says, willfully attempted to evade paying the Trust Fund Recovery Penalty, which had been assessed against him personally for the unpaid trust fund taxes of Winntech, and the payment of income tax due and owing by him for the calendar year 2008.
Larson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations, and not evidence of guilt.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul S. Becker and Trial Attorney David Zisserson of the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
