Santa Ana, CA – LAWFUEL – IRS News, Law News – David James Richardson was sentenced this morning to 63 months in federal prison by United States District Court Judge James V. Selna. In addition to prison, Richardson was ordered to pay restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $286,345 and was ordered to spend an additional 5 years on supervised release after serving his prison sentence.
In November of 2006, a federal jury in Santa Ana found Richardson, a resident of Huntington Beach, guilty on all counts alleged in the indictment, which included five counts of filing false claims, one count of passing a fictitious instrument (check), and one count of obstructing the due administration of the Internal Revenue Service. Richardson was originally charged in a federal grand jury indictment that was originally returned in 2006.
According to the indictment, Richardson, 48, made fraudulent claims to the IRS totaling $852,278 for tax refunds that he was not entitled to receive. Richardson allegedly filed several personal tax returns for the years 2000-2003, including two separate returns for the year 2001, in which he knowingly reported false amounts of federal tax withholding. Richardson is accused of fraudulently claiming tax refunds ranging from $54,485 to $267,414. The IRS issued refund checks to Richardson, which he cashed, that totaled $286,345 based upon the fictitious claims.
Richardson is alleged to have presented tax return preparers with W-2 forms reporting income he claimed to have earned from the California non-profit organizations CCK Sports Foundation, Inc. and Everyone Can Play, Inc. Richardson incorporated CCK Sports Foundation, Inc. on February 18, 2000 and was initially the sole corporate officer. He claimed the corporation had been organized to promote youth sports. Richardson also incorporated Everyone Can Play, Inc. on January 11, 2001. The sources of income for these corporations were not detailed in the indictment.
The grand jury further accused Richardson of endeavoring to impede and obstruct the due administration of Internal Revenue Code laws through acts beginning as early as January 2000 and continuing until at least May 2004 attempting to obtain falsely claimed refund amounts. In addition to the acts of filing false tax returns and cashing refund checks that he knew he was not entitled to, Richardson made calls during 2003 to the IRS declaring he would take action in response to the delay in receiving refund checks. On May 18, 2004, Richardson filed a complaint with the office of United States Congressman David Dreier related to the payment of his fraudulently claimed refund. Finally, on May 21, 2004, the IRS received a check in the amount of $1,990,000 from an account purportedly belonging to “CCK Sports FDTN” with the corporation’s federal tax identification number on the face. The check, which was returned by the bank unpaid, is alleged to have been submitted by Richardson in an attempt to fraudulently represent amounts withheld by CCK Sports Foundation, Inc. and finalize the refund(s) claimed by Richardson.
Richardson was ordered by Judge Selna to begin serving his sentence on May 4, 2007.
The investigation and prosecution of Richardson was handled by IRS Criminal Investigation and the United States Attorney’s Office Santa Ana branch.
