Colorado Businessman Indicted for Tax Evasion

A federal grand jury sitting in the District of Colorado returned an indictment, unsealed today, charging a Colorado resident with tax evasion, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer for the District of Colorado.

According to the indictment, Sergio Murillo owned and operated Mountain High Window Cleaning, which provided window cleaning and snow removal services. The indictment alleges that from 2007 through 2010, Murillo concealed hundreds of thousands of dollars in income earned through his business by instructing Mountain High’s clients to write checks payable to him and depositing the funds into his personal bank account instead of his business bank account. He then allegedly filed false tax returns that did not report this income. The indictment also charges that Murillo falsely told Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees that his clients decided whether to make checks payable to him or Mountain High, and that he had only a business bank account into which he deposited all of Mountain High’s income.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt. It merely alleges that crimes have been committed. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

If convicted, Murillo faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each of the four counts in which he is charged, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg and Acting U.S. Attorney Troyer commended special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Hautzinger of the District of Colorado and Trial Attorney Benjamin Weir of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.