The United States Attorney's Office

Los Angeles, CA - The former general manager of the Oxnard-based Haas Automation, Inc. pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring with the company's owner to put bogus expenses on the company books in an attempt to avoid paying more than $20 million in federal income taxes.

Denis Arthur Dupuis, a 51-year-old Newbury Park resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy before United States District Judge Christina A. Snyder. Dupuis is scheduled to be sentenced next January, at which time he faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

By pleading guilty, Dupuis admitted that he conspired with Gene Francis Haas, the owner of Haas Automation and CNC, Inc., to avoid paying federal income taxes.

The scheme allegedly started in 2000 after Haas paid approximately $8.9 million to settle a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by a rival firm. According to court documents, Haas blamed his loss in the case on the federal judge who presided over the lawsuit. In September 2000, Haas allegedly created several tax fraud schemes to recover from the government the $8.9 million plus legal fees that he paid the rival company.

Dupuis admitted today that he was part of a conspiracy with Haas and others that created bogus invoices and paid the fictitious bills with Haas Automation checks. Haas allegedly paid millions of dollars for non-existent industrial equipment and deducted these payments as expenses. A co-conspirator returned 98 percent or 99 percent paid for the non-existent equipment. According to an indictment, this bogus invoice scheme allowed Haas Automation to deduct more than $37.5 million in false expenses during 2000 and 2001, when in reality nearly all of that money was returned to Haas.

Dupuis becomes the third person to plead guilty in relation to the Haas Automation tax fraud scheme.

Haas, 54, of Camarillo, is scheduled to go to trial on September 18. Another man, Robert Gene Cable, 73, of La Crescenta, a former Haas Automation salesman, is scheduled to go on trial with Haas. For further information about the case against Haas, see the original press release in this case: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/cac/pr2006/077.html.

An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case involving Haas Automation is the result of an investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigation Division.

Release No. 07-007
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