The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that Joel Momsen, a Certified Public Accountant doing business and residing in Napa, California, was indicted today by a federal grand jury on one count of evasion of payment and one count of filing a false collection information statement with the IRS in violation of 26 U.S.C. §§ 7201 and 7206(1).

The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7201 is six years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000.  The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1) is three years and/or a fine of $100,000.  However, any sentence following conviction would be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion of the Court.  An indictment simply contains allegations against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Momsen must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

The Court has issued a summons requiring Mr. Momsen to appear on June 8, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joseph C. Spero.  The case is assigned to U.S. Chief Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.

The prosecution is the result of a investigation by of the Internal Revenue Service.  Jay R. Weill is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the case.