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October 24, 2003
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced today that Sukhdeep Bawa was sentenced yesterday to four months in prison for income tax evasion. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Martin J. Jenkins following a guilty plea to one count in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201.
Mr. Bawa, 39 of Napa, California, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 4, 2002. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371; three counts of tax evasion, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201; and 20 counts of subscribing to false tax returns, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1); and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation to the IRS of a false and fraudulent income tax return, in violation 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2).
According to the plea agreement, Mr. Bawa operated a family-owned wholesale deli business in Napa, California, by the name of Jasna Corporation that did business as Deli Delicious. During the years 1995-1998, according to his plea agreement, Mr. Bawa skimmed cash receipts from the business and routinely paid employees in cash under the table. This skimming led to the filing of false individual income tax returns for the years 1995, 1996 and 1997 and false corporate tax returns for Jasna Corporation for the fiscal years ending October 31, 1996 and October 31, 1997. The cash wages paid to employees were not reported on Forms 941, Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Returns, filed for Jasna Corporation, for the calendar quarters ending March 31, 1995 through December 31, 1998, making those returns false as well.
Mr. Bawa admitted that he also kept two sets of corporate records: one that reflected the true amount of corporate sales and another which only reflected those sales which were deposited into the corporate bank account. Mr. Bawa then knowingly provided false profit and loss statements for Jasna Corporation to the corporate income tax return preparer. Mr. Bawa also provided false information to his individual income tax return preparers understating the income that he and his wife received from Jasna Corporation and rental properties during the prosecution years.
Judge Jenkins sentenced the defendant to four months in federal prison, a fine of $10,000, as well as a three year period of supervised release. The defendant also was sentenced to four months community confinement as a condition of supervised release. Prior to sentencing, the defendant paid restitution to the United States in the amount of $131,610. The defendant will begin serving the sentence on or before January 5, 2004.
The prosecution was the result of a two and a half year investigation by agents of the Internal Revenue Service. David L. Denier is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case with the assistance of legal technician Kathy Tat.
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can. Related court documents and information may be found on the District Court website at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts/gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Jacobs at (415) 436-7181.
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