Participated in fraud scheme orchestrated by former National Revenue
Corporation Executive
COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 18, 2004 – LAWFUEL – A Toronto accountant, Ronald J.
Bogart, 50, was sentenced in United States District Court here today to
18 months in prison. Bogart pleaded guilty in June 2003 to three conspiracy
charges in connection with schemes to defraud creditors and the IRS and a
conspiracy to obstruct a grand jury investigation in the Southern District of
Ohio.
Gregory G. Lockhart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of
Ohio; Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of
Justice Tax Division, and Cromwell A. Handy, Special Agent in Charge, Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, announced the sentence handed down
today by U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley.
Judge Marbley also sentenced Bogart to three years of supervised release
after his imprisonment, and ordered Bogart to pay restitution to the scheme’s
victims in the amount of approximately $3.3 million.
At his plea hearing in June, 2003, Bogart admitted assisting Richard D.
Schultz, former Chief Executive Officer of National Revenue Corporation, in a
fraud and money laundering scheme to conceal millions of dollars of Schultz’s
funds through fraudulent transactions and the use of offshore bank accounts in
foreign countries such as the Cayman Islands and Guernsey of the Channel
Islands. Schultz then claimed false tax losses claiming millions of dollars
in deductions based on the false transactions facilitated by Bogart.
A number of persons, including Schultz, have been convicted of various
federal charges in connection with Schultz’s schemes to conceal millions of
dollars through false and fraudulent transactions, including the use of
offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, Canada, Jersey of the
Channel Islands, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.
Bogart was the fifth Schultz co-conspirator sentenced to date.
Richard Schultz, 52, formerly of Westerville received a sentence of
30 months imprisonment on September 30, 2002, and was ordered to pay
$1.26 million in restitution to the IRS, serve 416 hours of community service
and pay a $28,500 fine. Schultz pled guilty plea on August 9, 2001 to filing a
false income tax return in 1994 in connection with the scheme. Between 1994
and 1998, Richard Schultz was President and Chief Executive Order of National
Revenue Corporation, a Columbus-based collections agency.
Thomas Schultz, 45, of Powell, Ohio, was sentenced to 24 months in prison,
fined $7,500 and ordered to serve 416 hours of community service for his
crimes. Thomas Schultz was a Vice President at National Revenue Corporation
from 1994 to 1998. Thomas Schultz assisted Richard Schultz in concealing
millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts, including accounts in the
Bahamas and Cayman Islands. Thomas Schultz pled guilty to conspiracy, failure
to disclose foreign financial accounts, and obstruction of justice.
Larry K. Carnahan, formerly of Westerville, Ohio, who pleaded guilty to
conspiracy and tax charges and was sentenced in 2002 to 27 months in prison.
Leslie Brownell Combs of Ft. Lauderdale Florida received a 12 month
sentence in December, 2001. Combs pled guilty of failing to disclose foreign
financial accounts. Combs was a Schultz associate.
Six other defendants are expected to be sentenced in August or September.
Dominic Massari of Tampa, Florida; Francis J. McPeak of Clearwater,
Florida; Jeremy Franks, a London Solicitor; Richard Kennedy, a Canadian
businessman from Toronto; Cleveland lawyer Martin W. Elson, and Cedarwood
Acquisition Corporation of Toronto, Canada have all pled guilty to charges
related to Schultz’s schemes to defraud his creditors and the IRS. Each
agreed to cooperate with the government in the investigation of others.
Lockhart commended the agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division
and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who investigated
the case, Department of Justice Trial Attorney Mark Yost and Assistant U.S.
Attorney Brenda Shoemaker, who are prosecuting the case.
