Tax and Punishment: Indian American Couple in California Sentenced for IRS-Related Offenses
- Virendra Maharaj and his wife Rosalin Prasad of Sacramento conspired to defraud the United States by impeding the IRS in its attempt to assess the couple’s tax obligations.
A Sacramento, California couple was sentenced last week for tax-related offenses, and has agreed to pay over $605,000 in restitution, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. Virendra (Vic) Maharaj, 55, was sentenced to 364 days in prison “for willfully failing to file tax return information with the U.S. Treasury related to his receipt of cash while engaged in trade or business, according to a Department of Justice press release. His wife, Rosalin R. Prasad, was sentenced to 24 months of probation “for a conspiracy to defraud the United States with respect to the Internal Revenue Service’s assessment of income taxes.” They pleaded guilty on Dec. 9, 2021.
The DoJ press release, citing court documents, said that between January 2005 and January 2010, Maharaj and Prasad conspired to defraud the United States “by impeding the IRS in its attempt to assess the couple’s tax obligations for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007.”
Maharaj was an owner, general manager, and salesperson of Maharaja Motors LLC, which operated a used car lot in Woodland, from approximately 2007 through 2016. In 2015, he sold a vehicle to a customer and, “in turn, received a cash payment of over $10,000,” the DoJ said, adding that he “willfully failed to file information with the U.S. Treasury.”
Maharaj’s wages were paid directly to Prasad, and a part of his compensation was paid directly to Prasad and Maharaj’s creditors “through indirect payments,” the DoJ said.
Prasad “improperly deferred around $270,000 in capital gains related to her purchase of a $1.9 million residence, caused false tax returns to be filed in each of those years; and made false statements during an IRS audit,” the DoJ said. She “conspired to underreport over $819,000 in income and, in turn, underpay over $184,000 in federal income taxes,” the DoJ said. She received substantial tax refunds in 2005, 2006, and 2007.