Federal Jury Convicts Former Danvers Resident of Tax Fraud Charge (Thanks Jane)

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http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060725/netu029.html?.v=59

Federal Jury Convicts Former Danvers Resident of Tax Fraud Charge, Reports U.S. Attorney
Tuesday July 25, 10:11 am ET

BOSTON, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- A former resident of Danvers, Massachusetts was found guilty late yesterday by a jury on a federal charge of filing a false income tax return for the 1999 tax year.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O'Connor for the Department of Justice's Tax Division; and Douglas A. Bricker, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, announced that NADINE J. GRIFFIN, age 45, a former resident of Danvers, Massachusetts, now residing in New Hampshire, was convicted by a trial jury sitting before U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young of one count of filing a false income tax return for the 1999 tax year.


Evidence presented during the seven-day trial proved that GRIFFIN failed to report gross sales earned in 1999 as a salesperson for Global Prosperity, an organization that was in the business of selling a 12-part audiotape series and tickets to offshore seminars, both of which were sold through a network of salespersons. The offshore seminars were held in such places as Aruba and Cancun, Mexico. At the seminars vendors promoted and marketed fraudulent tax schemes.

The evidence also showed that GRIFFIN was one of Global's top salespersons. As a salesperson for Global Prosperity, GRIFFIN sold the audiotape, which retailed for $1,250 per series, as well as the tickets to the offshore seminars, which ranged in price from $6,250 per ticket to $18,750 per ticket. In the 1999 tax year, GRIFFIN failed to report in excess of $170,000 she made in gross sales from the tapes and tickets.

Having convicted GRIFFIN of filing a false income tax return for 1999, the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict concerning whether GRIFFIN filed a false income tax return for 1998. The U.S. Department of Justice is considering whether to retry the case for the 1998 false tax return. No decision has been made at this time.

Judge Young scheduled sentencing for October 25, 2006. GRIFFIN faces a maximum sentence of 3 years in prison.

Several individuals associated with Global Prosperity have been convicted of tax related charges. In February 2003, Margo Jordan, a Global Prosperity retailer from Wilton, Maine, pleaded guilty to a charge of income tax evasion. In July 2004, Global co-founder Daniel P. Andersen, formerly of Leominster, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. In April 2005, Dwayne Robare, formerly of Leominster, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to a charge of income tax evasion for the 2000 tax year.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Christopher J. Maietta and John N. Kane of the U.S. Department of Justice's Tax Division.

Tracy