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Business owner sentenced for bogus tax return

SCRANTON – Andy Tran, 31, of Scranton, was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to two-years probation connected to charges that he filed a bogus tax return with the Internal Revenue Service.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the IRS initiated a criminal investigation of Tran after agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined that Tran employed suspected illegal aliens.

Tran owned several employment companies using different names and arranged for the illegal aliens to perform unskilled production line of labor at various companies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Tran’s customers issued checks payable to the various companies Tran owned. Tran deposited in excess of $900,000 from his customers into various bank accounts that he controlled, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

While conducting business operations in Scranton and elsewhere, Tran filed a tax return with the IRS for the year 1999, showing he only earned $57 in taxable income.

IRS criminal investigators found that Tran received more than $920,000 from his companies.

U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik sentenced Tran to two-years probation with the first six months under home confinement with electronic monitoring.