Saturday, May 09, 2009

"Wire-Wearing" Mistress Key To Federal Indictment Snagging Builder-Boyfriend In Alleged Tax Evasion Scheme; Accountant, Real Estate Agent Also Named

In Columbus, Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch reports:
  • Federal agents put a secret recording device on the mistress of a central Ohio luxury-home builder and pieced together shredded documents from his accountant's trash to unravel a tax-evasion scheme that involved kickbacks to home buyers and fraudulent loans linked to one of Franklin County's largest mansions.(1)

For more, see 3 indicted in tax scheme (Builder, accountant accused of 18 counts in alleged fraud involving luxury homes).

(1) According to the story, the home builder, Thomas Parenteau, and the accountant, Dennis Sartain, pleaded not guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Columbus to an 18-count indictment charging them with tax fraud, bank and wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Bonnie Helt, a real-estate agent who sold many of Parenteau's luxury homes, also was arraigned. She pleaded not guilty to bank and wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice, the article states. She is accused of helping put the real-estate deals together and cover up the sales.