Washington Businessman Pleads Guilty to Filing Fraudulent Federal Tax Return

A Chelan Falls, Washington man pleaded guilty yesterday in the U.S. District Court in Yakima, Washington to filing a fraudulent 2011 federal tax return, announced Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to documents filed with the court, from 2009 through 2012, Jose L. Echeverria, 46, owned and operated a produce sales business. Echeverria filed fraudulent individual income tax returns for each of these years and underreported his income by a total of approximately $564,292. Echeverria admitted that he caused a tax loss of approximately $183,191.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 11. Echeverria faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg commended special agents of Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Lisa L. Bellamy and Gregory Bernstein of the Tax Division who prosecuted the case. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington for its assistance.

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