A Michigan asphalt company, Asphalt Specialists LLC, has been fined $6.5 million for its involvement in a bid-rigging conspiracy that spanned four years. The company pleaded guilty on January 30, 2024, to colluding with Al’s Asphalt Paving Company Inc. and F. Allied Construction Company Inc. to manipulate bids for paving jobs across the state. The scheme involved coordinating bid prices so that the designated losing company would submit non-competitive bids, creating the illusion of competition when the winning contractor had already been predetermined.
All three companies were charged with conspiracy as part of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into bid rigging and other anticompetitive practices in the asphalt paving industry. Al’s Asphalt previously pleaded guilty and was fined $795,661.81 in July 2023. Allied has also pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing. The investigation has also resulted in charges against six individuals.
In a separate case, a Texas tax preparer, Ruben Gonzalez, has been permanently barred from preparing federal tax returns. A permanent injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, prevents Gonzalez and anyone acting on his behalf from preparing returns due to allegations of significantly overstating customers’ tax refunds. Gonzalez, operating under the business name “Sin Barreras Income Tax,” is accused of inflating refunds from 2021 to 2023 by fabricating business losses, claiming non-existent charitable donations, and falsely claiming energy credits and coronavirus sick leave credits. The federal complaint alleges that Gonzalez’s actions caused the U.S. to lose over $20 million in tax revenue.
Gonzalez has been ordered to notify all individuals for whom he or his preparers filed federal tax returns since the beginning of 2021 about the injunction. He must also post a copy of the injunction at all business locations and on all social media accounts and websites.
In Florida, Roger Whitman, 76, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, February 6, 2024, to evading nearly $2.4 million in taxes on income earned from his medical equipment business. Court documents and statements indicate that Whitman, who operated the business between 2002 and 2018, generated millions of dollars in gross receipts. However, he has not filed an individual income tax return or made any tax payments since 2000. In 2012, the IRS assessed nearly $800,000 in taxes against Whitman for the tax years 2002 through 2009. To conceal his income and assets, Whitman formed a trust with his girlfriend as the trustee and directed her to open two bank accounts in the trust’s name, with sole signatory authority. He deposited his business income into these accounts and used the funds for personal expenses. Around July 2019, Whitman established a new entity to operate his business in an attempt to further hinder IRS collection efforts. Whitman is scheduled for sentencing on November 13, 2024, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, supervised release, and monetary penalties.
