NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

MAY 15, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRANSON MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD THE IRS, FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Branson, Mo., man has pleaded guilty in federal court to his role in a conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and to filing false income tax returns.

Jeffery Allen Davis, 46, of Branson, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr on Thursday, May 14, 2009, to the charges contained in an April 4, 2008, federal indictment.

Davis was an employee of Bottom Line Employee Services of Missouri, Inc. and the general manager of the Farmhouse Restaurant in Branson, Mo.

Davis admitted that, from 2000 to Jan. 31, 2005, he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the IRS by paying Bottom Line employees who worked for the Farmhouse Restaurant in cash, and not reporting the cash compensation to the IRS.

A portion of some Bottom Line employees’ compensation for work at the Farmhouse Restaurant was paid in cash. False payroll information, which omitted the cash compensation, was transmitted to a bookkeeper who initially prepared payroll checks and federal employment tax returns for Bottom Line. Bottom Line then filed false Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns for Bottom Line with the IRS that omitted the cash compensation from total wages, tips and other compensation, and thereby understated the amount of federal employment taxes due from Bottom Line to the United States.

In addition to the conspiracy Davis pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false individual income tax returns for the calendar years 2001 through 2004, in which he received substantially greater income than was reported to the IRS. Davis admitted that he did not report cash compensation paid to him during those years for his services at Farmhouse Restaurant.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas C. Bunch. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.

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