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September 30, 2003
The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California announced that local divorce attorney Demetrious Eugenios, 56, of San Juan Bautista, was indicted today by a federal grand jury for tax evasion in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201. Mr. Eugenios has a law office in Campbell, and regularly advertises in Bay Area Parent magazine.
According to the indictment, Mr. Eugenios is alleged to have willfully attempted to evade the payment of his income taxes for the tax years 1989 and 1991 through 1999. The indictment further alleges that Mr. Eugenios concealed his assets and income, and submitted false Collection Information Statements (Forms 433) to the Internal Revenue Serviced (IRS), to defeat the IRS' ability to collect his outstanding taxes. According to a search warrant affidavit filed October 23, 2000, Mr. Eugenios reported income aggregating approximately 2.2 million dollars between 1989 and 1991 through 1998, and had an outstanding tax liability of approximately $550,000 as of the date of the search warrant, excluding penalties and interest. Including penalties and interest, the figure totaled approximately $995,000 in October 2000. Among other means of concealment, the affidavit alleges that Mr. Eugenios improperly deposited personal income from the sale of a residence in his attorney-client trust account. State Bar regulations strictly prohibit commingling of personal funds in an attorney-client trust account, and could subject Mr. Eugenios to disbarment.
In an unrelated matter, the grand jury also returned an indictment last week charging Melvin Roschelle, 60, of Los Gatos, with four counts of tax evasion in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201 and eight counts of filing false tax returns in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1). According to the indictment, Mr. Roschelle is alleged to have attempted to evade the assessment of his income taxes by failing to report income on his personal tax returns for the tax years 1996 through 1999. He is also alleged to have filed false tax returns on behalf of two corporations, Innovative Services, Inc. and Interior Expressions, Inc., between 1996 and 2001.
The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7201 is five years in prison, three years supervised release, a fine of $250,000, plus costs of prosecution. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7206(1) is three years in prison, one year supervised release, a fine of $250,000, plus costs of prosecution. 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. Eugenios and Mr. Roschelle must be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.
Mr. Eugenios is scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court in San Jose on October 2, 2003 before Chief United States Magistrate Judge Patricia V. Trumbull. Mr. Roschelle is scheduled to make his initial appearance before United States Magistrate Richard Seeborg on November 6, 2003, in San Jose.
The prosecution of Mr. Eugenios is the result of a four year investigation by the IRS, Criminal Investigation Division (CID). The prosecution of Mr. Roschelle is the result of a three year investigation by the IRS, CID. Jane Shoemaker is the Assistant U.S. Attorney who is prosecuting the cases with the assistance of legal technician Susan Kreider.
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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