Littleton accountant Reed H. Barker will be inside a jail cell
for 18 months for tax fraud.
Sentenced early in September, Barker is a certified public
accountant who worked with Stephen F. Petersen of Utah and Brent
Metcalfe of California to create offshore accounts in Nevis and
Cayman Islands for clients.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the three charged
about one-third of the expected tax savings.
In November 2005, a grand jury in Salt Lake City indicted
Barker, Metcalf and Petersen, along with Utah attorney Dennis B.
Evanson for promoting a tax fraud scheme that bilked the U.S.
Internal Revenue Service for more than $20 million.
The fraud scheme took multiple forms, including the use of false
documentation for fictitious currency transaction losses, false
insurance expense deductions and bogus capital losses, all to
offsetting taxable income for clients. The scheme utilized, among
other things, offshore companies, offshore bank accounts in the
Cayman Islands and Nevis, the services of offshore nominees and
opinion letters that purported to give legal authority to the
fraudulent transactions.
Barker, Metcalf and Petersen pleaded guilty for their roles in
the scheme in January.
Each admitted that, from 1996 until April 2005, he conspired
with Evanson and others to conceal portions of customers’ income
from the IRS and to create false deductions for the purpose of
reducing the income tax paid by customers. The defendants admitted
that they knew that the deductions on the tax returns were false
and fraudulent.
Barker also will pay nearly $168,000 in restitution.
etersen was sentenced to 35 months in prison.
Metcalf will serve 24 months in prison and 36 months of
supervised release. The court also ordered that Petersen forfeit
nearly $1.2 million.
— He will pay nearly $168,000 in restitution
