E. Martin Estrada, U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California
A well-known tattoo artist from Los Angeles, Daniel Joseph Winter, has admitted to filing false tax returns that resulted in evading over $641,000 in federal income tax. Winter, also known by his professional name "winterstone," entered a guilty plea to one count of subscription to a false tax return.
Winter, aged 43, operated his tattoo business across Los Angeles, New York, and Vancouver, Canada. He specialized in single-needle fine-line tattoos and catered to an upscale clientele. Despite earning substantial income from his work between 2021 and 2023—amounting to at least $1.7 million—Winter did not declare any wages or salaries on the tax returns filed with the IRS.
According to court documents, Winter's reported taxable incomes for 2021 through 2023 were significantly lower than his actual earnings. For example, he declared a negative income of $3,442 for 2021 instead of the actual $501,710 he earned. Similarly understated figures were reported for the following years.
This underreporting allowed Winter to reduce his apparent tax obligations by more than $641,000. During today's court proceedings, Winter presented a cashier’s check totaling $641,959 as payment for the taxes owed due to this underreporting.
In court, Winter acknowledged that he was aware of his obligation to report all income but deliberately chose not to do so on his tax filings. He accepted payments primarily in cash for his services, complicating efforts by the IRS to ascertain his true income levels.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ranee Katzenstein of the Criminal Appeals Section. United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II has scheduled sentencing for August 11th. Winter could face a maximum sentence of three years in federal prison.
