Press Release

Miami Business Woman Convicted of Tax Evasion

October 17, 2008

For Immediate Release

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Michael E. Yasofsky, Jr., Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division; and Lester Fernandez, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Education, OIG, Investigation Services, announced today the conviction of defendant Sorga Suarez, a/k/a Sorgalim Barzaga, a/k/a Sorgalim Sin Barzaga, a/k/a Sorgalim Valladares, a/k/a Lizette Valladares, a/k/a/ Lizette Solis, of Miami, Florida, on a charge of tax evasion, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201. Suarez faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five () years for the tax evasion charge. Sentencing is scheduled for January 14, 2009 at 10:30a.m. before the Honorable Marcia G. Cooke.

According to the Indictment, court documents, and evidence presented in court, Suarez owned and operated Business Etcetera, Inc. (BEI), a private forñprofit company that was primarily funded by federal student loans and grants issued by the United States Department of Education. BEI was located at 720 N.W. 27th Avenue, Miami, Florida. During calendar year 2001, Suarez received taxable income in excess of $1,000,000 and owed a substantial amount of income tax to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Suarez willfully attempted to evade said income taxes by failing to file an income tax return for calendar year 2001. In addition, she concealed from the IRS the nature and extent of her assets and her true income by having her company, BEI, pay her personal expenses and then falsely classifying the expenditures in corporate accounting records as deductible expenses of the corporation.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Department of Education and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Lois Foster-Steers.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.