U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICEU.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
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United States Attorney’s Office
Northern District of California
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11th Floor, Federal Building
450 Golden Gate Avenue, Box 36055
San Francisco, California 94102
(415) 436-7200
FAX: (415) 436-7234
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 8, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO REMODELING CONTRACTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION
Defendant Underpaid IRS $73,954
SAN FRANCISCO – United States Attorney Kevin V. Ryan and IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Roger L. Wirth announced that Sam Ho Low, a San Francisco, California remodeling contractor, pleaded guilty today to two counts of tax evasion. Mr. Low pleaded guilty today to intentionally under-reporting his business income on his personal tax returns for the years 1997 and 1999. He entered his guilty plea before U.S. District Court Judge William H. Alsup. Sentencing is scheduled for May 23, 2006.
This prosecution is the result of an investigation by Special Agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division.
According to the plea agreement, the defendant owned and operated a corporation named Frank and Sam’s Construction and Remodeling Company, Inc. (Frank and Sam’s Construction) in San Francisco, which was an “S” corporation under the Internal Revenue laws. Frank and Sam’s Construction provided remodeling and construction services for residential and commercial clients in the Bay Area. Mr. Low admitted that he requested that clients pay for his services either by writing a check payable to Frank and Sam’s Construction, or to Sam Low, or to pay him in cash. He further admitted that he did not deposit the checks payable to himself or the currency he received into the business bank account. He also acknowledged that he gave his income tax return preparer only the business bank statements to calculate his gross receipts for years including 1997 and 1999.
Documents filed with the court reveal that Sam Low cashed the checks payable to himself and used some of the cash to pay business expenses such as salaries, wages, building materials and building supplies, and that he kept the cash balance. He admitted that he did not tell his tax return preparer about the checks he cashed or the currency he received, and none of it was reported on his income tax returns. Mr. Low acknowledged that the net tax loss to the United States was $73,954.
Joseph A. Fazioli is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case. The prosecution is the result of a six month investigation by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service.
The maximum statutory penalty for each count in violation of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201, is five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, and three years of supervised release. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the Court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 06-0034 WHA.
A copy of this press release 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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