May 5, 11

NEWS / Pennsylvania Tax Defier Home Builder and Landlord Convicted of Tax Fraud

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Troy A. Beam was convicted today in the Middle District of Pennsylvania before U.S. District Judge Christopher C. Conner. Beam, a resident of Shippensburg, Pa., was convicted of tax evasion, obstructing and impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws and willful failure to file federal income tax returns, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.



According to the indictment and evidence at trial, Beam, a former certified public accountant and state auditor in the Pennsylvania Auditor General’s Office, earned substantial sums of income from 1992 to the date of the indictment while operating a home construction business known as “Sunbeam Builders,” as well as owning and operating two real estate businesses known as “Latrobe Leasing” and “Goldstar Property Management” that purchased, rented and sold real estate. Despite earning substantial income from these businesses, as well as other activities, Beam failed to file any federal income tax returns since April 1996, when he filed his 1995 tax return reporting a loss. In April 1996, Beam also filed false amended federal income tax returns for 1992, 1993 and 1994, seeking tax refunds for taxes he previously had paid for those years.



The indictment alleged and the evidence at trial proved that Beam obstructed the IRS in its attempt to calculate and collect his taxes by using numerous sham trusts and other entities, including North Star Investment Holdings Ltd. to hide his income and assets. Beam used North Star to set up a bank account in the Cayman Islands into which he deposited nearly $3 million of income derived from his construction business.



Beam faces up to 12 years in prison, $900,000 in fines and full restitution to the IRS for all back taxes due and owing. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 12, 2011.



Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco of the Department of Justice’s Tax Division and Peter J. Smith, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, commended the IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents who investigated the case, as well as Tax Division trial attorneys Jorge Almonte and Mark S. McDonald who prosecuted the case.



More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at www.justice.gov/tax.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/May/11-tax-570.html

Tags: criminal investigation,