Financial Fraud: ACME REFINING CO., Pleaded Guilty To Criminal Tax Violations

<h2>Chicago Scrap Iron Refining Company and Its President Plead Guilty to Criminal Tax Violations for Concealing &dollar;11&period;6 Million from IRS<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>CHICAGO — A Chicago-based scrap iron refining business and its president admitted in federal court today that they concealed from the Internal Revenue Service more than &dollar;11&period;6 million in cash wages paid to employees&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"mh-content-ad"><script async src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;pagead2&period;googlesyndication&period;com&sol;pagead&sol;js&sol;adsbygoogle&period;js&quest;client&equals;ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; crossorigin&equals;"anonymous"><&sol;script>&NewLine;<ins class&equals;"adsbygoogle"&NewLine; style&equals;"display&colon;block&semi; text-align&colon;center&semi;"&NewLine; data-ad-layout&equals;"in-article"&NewLine; data-ad-format&equals;"fluid"&NewLine; data-ad-client&equals;"ca-pub-9162800720558968"&NewLine; data-ad-slot&equals;"1081854981"><&sol;ins>&NewLine;<script>&NewLine; &lpar;adsbygoogle &equals; window&period;adsbygoogle &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&rpar;&period;push&lpar;&lbrace;&rcub;&rpar;&semi;&NewLine;<&sol;script><&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>ACME REFINING CO&period;&comma; which does business as Acme Refining Scrap Iron &amp&semi; Metal Co&period;&comma; and its president&comma; LAURENCE C&period; BARON&comma; each pleaded guilty to impairing and impeding the IRS&period; Acme and Baron admitted in plea agreements that from 2009 to 2013 they paid cash wages of more than &dollar;11&period;6 million to at least 50 employees&comma; but failed to report the payments to the IRS&period; Acme and Baron also acknowledged that they willfully failed to withhold for the government the required amounts for FICA taxes and Medicare&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As part of their plea agreements&comma; Baron and Acme agreed to pay restitution of &dollar;5&comma;878&comma;327 to the IRS and the state of Illinois&comma; with Acme paying &dollar;4&comma;545&comma;243 and Baron paying &dollar;1&comma;333&comma;084&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span lang&equals;"EN">The guilty pleas were <&sol;span>announced by Joel R&period; Levin&comma; Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois&semi; and Gabriel L&period; Grchan<span lang&equals;"EN">&comma; Special Agent-in-Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Impairing and impeding the IRS is punishable by up to three years in prison&period; Baron&comma; 70&comma; of Burr Ridge&comma; also pleaded guilty to a separate count of willfully filing a false individual income tax return&comma; which carries the same maximum penalty&period; <span lang&equals;"EN">U&period;S&period; District Judge Harry D&period; Leinenweber set sentencing for Sept&period; 14&comma; 2017&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span lang&equals;"EN">The cases against Acme and Baron are part an ongoing federal investigation of cash transactions in the Chicago-area scrap metal industry that has resulted in several previous convictions&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the plea agreements&comma; Baron directed Acme employees to issue multiple vouchers for cash payments due to suppliers that exceeded &dollar;10&comma;000&comma; using nominee or fictitious payees as the purported seller&period; Between 2009 and 2013 the company and Baron obtained approximately &dollar;152 million in cash from two currency exchanges&comma; then used the money to pay 85 separate scrap metal suppliers in order to assist those suppliers in underreporting their income and taxes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Acme – at the direction of Baron – also spent at least &dollar;1&period;6 million to fund construction of a personal residence in Wisconsin that had no business-related purpose&comma; the plea agreements state&period; The company falsely recorded this expenditure as &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;cost of goods sold&comma;” in order to reduce Acme’s tax liability and conceal the payment on behalf of its corporate officers&period; The bogus records included phony invoices that fraudulently identified the payments as purchases of scrap steel&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Baron also admitted filing false individual income tax returns for tax years 2011 and 2012&period; The fraudulent returns resulted in a total federal and state tax loss of approximately &dollar;208&comma;875&comma; the plea agreement states&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The government is represented by Assistant U&period;S&period; Attorney <span lang&equals;"EN">Patrick King&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;justice&period;gov&sol;usao-ndil&sol;pr&sol;chicago-scrap-iron-refining-company-and-its-president-plead-guilty-criminal-tax">Original PressReleases&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;

Tax EvasionTax Fraud