Montana Couple Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud the United States

A Montana couple pleaded guilty today in federal court in Missoula, Montana to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, and U.S. Attorney Michael W. Cotter for the District of Montana.

According to the government’s offer of proof, Peggy DeYoung and John DeYoung, both 71, have not filed an individual income tax return since 1998. From 2007 through 2011, Peggy DeYoung earned income through her ownership interest in two companies that own Southern California mobile home parks. The DeYoungs also enlisted the services of Joseph Hill of Creative Consulting Group to establish a number of purported trusts. The DeYoungs opened bank accounts in the names of those trusts using fabricated taxpayer identification numbers and paid personal expenses from the accounts. The plea agreement specifies that the DeYoungs caused the U.S. Treasury a tax loss of $376,350.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 21. The DeYoungs face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and U.S. Attorney Cotter thanked special agents of IRS–Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Chad Spraker and Trial Attorney Rebecca Sable 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.