Yet another Aegis fool sentenced

[Demosthenes]

Dyer man gets 2 years for tax evasion plea
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September 1, 2009
By Teresa Auch Schultz, Post-Tribune staff writer
HAMMOND -- A Dyer man who pleaded guilty to income tax evasion will spend two years in prison.
Donald Sikma, 57, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Hammond after earlier pleading guilty to one count of filing a false tax return in 1998, when he claimed he made $44,000 but really made $1 million.
Four other counts -- which covered a false tax return in 1999 when he again claimed he made $44,000 but really made $500,000 and three years when he didn't file a return -- were dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Sikma, who owned a plumbing company, was indicted in 2005 after officials said he lied about his income and failed to pay $1.1 million in income taxes.
Officials said he worked with a trust company, Aegis Co. in Palos Heights, Ill., to buy domestic and foreign trusts to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
He then used the money to buy a pool and a Harley-Davison motorcycle and to pay for his son's school tuition and his daughter's wedding, according to federal court documents.
Sikma had faced up to 14 years in prison before reaching a plea agreement. Along with his two-year sentence, he also agreed to a fine of $250,000, which has already been paid.
He also still has to work with the IRS in filing proper tax returns for the period he filed false claims and pay any owed taxes.

[Demosthenes]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAX
MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 2009 (202) 514-2007
http://WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
NORTHWEST INDIANA BUSINESSMAN WHO USED SHAM TRUSTS
SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR TAX FRAUD
WASHINGTON - Donald Sikma, a businessman from Dyer, Ind., was sentenced to 24 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Theresa L. Springmann in Fort Wayne, Ind., the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced.
In June 2009, Sikma pleaded guilty to one count of filing false tax returns for the 1998 tax year. According to court records, Sikma sheltered millions of dollars of income using a tax avoidance scheme promoted by the now-defunct Aegis Company. As part of this scheme, Sikma transferred portions of his income to an offshore trust. Sikma failed to report this income on his individual income tax returns. Using the offshore Aegis trust and other sham trusts, Sikma fraudulently avoided paying at least $1.13 million in federal income taxes.
According to the plea agreement, Sikma has paid approximately $3.5 million in federal and state back taxes, including penalties and interest, and has agreed to cooperate with the IRS in continuing assessments.
The six principal promoters of the Aegis trust scheme were convicted of a tax fraud conspiracy and other tax crimes following a jury trial in May 2008 in Chicago. These Aegis promoters have been sentenced Aegis to terms of imprisonment ranging from ten to eighteen years.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ronald A. Cimino of the Justice Department’s Tax Division commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents who investigated the case, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Berkowitz from the Northern District of Indiana and Tax Division trial attorney Joseph Rillotta who prosecuted the case.

[Judge Roy Bean]

As Robert Earl Keen says, "The road goes on forever and the party never ends:"

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article ... 0.0.132053

Craig Hagerty was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Angela Hagerty was ordered to serve 36 months probation with a special condition of six months home detention. In addition, Wright also ordered both Hagertys to pay restitution of $1,441,057.

Craig Hagerty pled guilty last year on Sept. 25 to two separate tax fraud charges. The charges were originally levied in September 2008 through an eight-count indictment in which both Hagerty and his wife were charged. Craig pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. in determination of the lawful tax he owed. He also pled guilty to evading the payment of the taxes. Angela pled guilty a few days later to one count of misprision of a felony.