Press Releases
NEW ORLEANS WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL TAX VIOLATIONS
January 10, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANICE GAUDET CRAIG, age 50, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, pled guilty today in United States District Court to a Bill of Information charging her with Willful Failure to Collect or Pay Over Tax, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten and Rodney Clarke, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.
According to the court documents, CRAIG was the Secretary, Treasurer, Chief Financial Officer and co-owner of TCB Industries, Inc.. TCB was an offshore oilfield fabrication and services company which, from 1998 through 2004, had a workforce ranging from 216 to 679 employees at its fabrication plant in Abbeville, Louisiana, and annual payrolls between approximately 2.5 million and 5.9 million dollars. During that period, CRAIG, who was entirely responsible for TCB’s financial operations, failed to truthfully account for or pay over to the United States Treasury between 2.5 million and 7 million dollars in taxes due from TCB, including the “trust fund” consisting of the employees’ federal income tax, Social Security and Medicare withholdings, and matching amounts and federal unemployment tax due from TCB.
CRAIG admitted in court today that she intentionally presented to the IRS false quarterly returns that significantly under-reported TCB’s payroll and employment taxes, and to engaging in protracted negotiations with the IRS in order to thwart the agency’s efforts to bring about her voluntary compliance with the requirements of federal law.
CRAIG also admitted that she failed to file TCB’s employees’ IRS Forms W-2 with the Social Security Administration, which prevented routine computerized checks from revealing the discrepancies between the false payroll amounts CRAIG reported to the IRS and TCB’s actual payroll. This had the additional effect of denying the employees proper credit for their earnings with the Social Security Administration. CRAIG also failed to file TCB’s corporate tax returns for six years, and reported different amounts of payroll to the IRS and the State of Louisiana.
Further, she admitted that while she made several payments immediately after the IRS served a search warrant at TCB, on March 13, 2003, CRAIG resumed her non-payment of TCB’s taxes and made no payments at all in 2004. Finally, CRAIG admitted to filing a personal tax return for 2004 that falsely reported $26,541 in withholdings, when she knew nothing had been withheld from her wages and paid over to the United States Treasury in 2004.
Special Agent in Charge Clarke stated, “IRS Criminal Investigation realizes the detrimental consequences that this type of crime has with the loss of tax revenue to the United States Government and the loss of future Social Security or Medicare benefits to the employees.”
If you would like to learn more about these types of cases go to www.irs.gov
CRAIG faces a maximum sentence of five (5) years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for April 10, 2008.
This matter was investigated by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Steven M. Mohlhenrich and Michael C. Boteler of the U. S. Department of Justice, Tax Division.
