NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

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

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

MARCH 31, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BRANSON HUSBAND, WIFE PLEAD GUILTY TO

TAX FRAUD AT BRANSON BUSINESS,

FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Branson, Mo., husband and wife pleaded guilty in federal court today to charges related to corporate tax fraud and filing false tax returns.

Carl Roger Davis, 74, and his wife, Jo Elaine Davis, 60, both of Branson, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr this afternoon to the charges contained in an April 4, 2008, federal indictment.

Carl Davis was an owner of Bottom Line Employee Services of Missouri, Inc. Employees of Bottom Line worked at the Farmhouse Restaurant in Branson. His son, co-defendant Jeffery Davis, 47, of Branson, was an employee of Bottom Line and the general manager of the Farmhouse Restaurant. Jeffery Davis pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Oct. 23, 2009, to one year and one day in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Jeffery Davis to pay $62,508 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

By pleading guilty today, Carl Davis admitted that, from 2000 to Jan. 31, 2005, he participated in a conspiracy to defraud the government by impeding the function of the IRS to collect federal employment and income taxes from his employees. During this time, a portion of some Bottom Line employees’ compensation for work at the Farmhouse Restaurant was paid in cash and not reported to the IRS. The understated amount of taxes for the years 2001 through 2004 totals $53,514.

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. Carl Davis 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. Carl Davis pleaded guilty today to filing false Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Returns.

Carl Davis also admitted that his relevant conduct in this case includes filing false individual income tax returns for 2000 through 2004. The tax loss attributable to these false filings totals more than $130,000.

Jo Davis pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return for 2005. Jo Davis admitted that when she filed her tax return, she omitted $68,664 in compensation that she received from Arbonne International, Inc. The tax loss attributable to her omission is more than $5,000 and potentially more than $19,000. Jo Davis also admitted that her relevant conduct in this case includes filing a false individual income tax return in 2004 in which she omitted $6,279 in compensation from Arbonne. The tax loss attributable to this false filing is more than $800.

Under federal statutes, Carl Davis is subject to a sentence of up to eight years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $500,000 plus the costs of prosecution and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Under federal statutes, Jo Davis is subject to a sentence of up to three years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000 plus the costs of prosecution and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

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

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