Author of Mark of Voodoo Failed to File Tax Returns on over $1.7 Mil…

Author of Mark of Voodoo Failed to File Tax Returns on over $1.7 Million in Income

OAKLAND – LAWFUEL – Press Release Service – United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan announced Sharon Lee Caulder was sentenced today to 30 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for her conviction of two counts of bankruptcy fraud and five counts of failure to file income tax returns. Ms. Caulder was convicted on November 18, 2005, for intentionally concealing the existence of two bank accounts with a balance of more than $68,000 on her bankruptcy petition filed in California in 1998 and for willfully failing to file income tax returns from 1998-2002, a period during which she had received over $1.7 million in gross income.

Defendant Caulder, 62, of New Orleans, Louisiana, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 14, 2005. During trial, the United States proved that defendant Caulder received over $1.7 million in gross income for providing alternative healing services and from royalties for her book Mark of Voodoo. Defendant Caulder received $138,968 in 1998; $830,391 in 1999; $247,677 in 2000; $300,000 in 2001; and $188,992 in 2002. U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken also ordered that defendant Caulder file all past due and unfiled federal tax returns and pay all taxes owed.

Merry Jean Chan and Lewis A. Davis are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who prosecuted the case with the assistance of legal technicians Cynthia Daniel and Kathleen Glynn, and paralegal Patty Lau. The prosecution is the culmination of a two-year investigation led by special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and IRS – Criminal Investigation.

Further Information:

Case #: CR 04-40016 CW

A copy of this press release and related court filings may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Luke Macaulay at (415) 436-6757 or by email at Luke.Macaulay@usdoj.gov.

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