Mike Yassine Receives Three Years In Federal Prison In Austin Tax Case

In Austin this morning, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks sentenced 41-year-old Hussein Ali “Mike” Yassine, to three years in federal prison and ordered him to pay over $2.5 million restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for engaging in a tax fraud scheme using his Austin nightclubs.  Judge Sparks ordered that the three year term of imprisonment run consecutive to the 151–month prison term Yassine is currently serving for money laundering.

On February 6, 2013,Yassine pleaded guilty to one count of procuring the preparation of a false Income Tax Return.  By pleading guilty, Yassine admitted that in October 2010, he provided a professional tax preparer with false information to be included in Yassine’s 2009 federal Income Tax Return.  According to court documents, figures provided by Yassine understated by hundreds of thousands of dollars the actual gross receipts generated by his downtown Austin night clubs--Spill, Qua, Kiss & Fly, Pure and Malaia—in 2009. 

In January, Yassine was sentenced to 151 months in federal prison after a jury convicted him on money laundering charges.  The jury found that in 2008 and 2009, Yassine used several business establishments, including the above mentioned night clubs, to launder over $200,000 in cash, which he believed to be the proceeds of narcotics trafficking. 

This investigation was conducted by agents and investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Austin Police Department together with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Texas Attorney General’s Office, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission and the Texas Comptroller’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorneys Gregg Sofer and Alan Buie prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.