Client pleading guilty to fraud
 

I will leave out some details to protect the identity of the guilty party.

About five years ago, I did this enormous house addition to a house located in a small town near here. We ended up designing in ten bedrooms, an addition with indoor pool, and a carriage house with nice living quarters above. The house is georgeous but the possibility of ever selling it for the mil or so they have in it seemed remote.

I always wondered how the fellow with the prosperous but fairly modest looking business he had could afford to spend so much on the home addition. I noticed in the client Architect meetings that the wife seemed to be making the decisions. I figured that it must be her money.

A few months ago federal marshalls came in and closed his business and filed charges of defrauding the federal government. I thought....Ahhhh, so that is where the money was coming from.

A few days ago it was announced he was taking a plea bargain for defrauding the gov out of 3.5 mil and a half mil in taxes.

Yikes!

The house appears to be sitting empty.

Hope you got paid in full before they busted the bastard.

Can the feds come after your payment? Just curious.

How do these people sleep at night?

I was paid. I don't see how they can come after me, I didn't do anything wrong.

I don't understand that either. I suppose they have no conscience, so it's not a problem for them.

Since the job was five years ago, it sounds like Tom has already been paid, thank goodness.

Why folks seem to think that they'll be the ones that beat the system is beyond me. But it doesn't keep them from trying.

This on the heels (or maybe the toes) of the lady in OR who got the $2.1MM refund from the state by committing tax fraud (although one appears to be federal and the other state). I figured that would have to add up pretty quickly, as much as $5 BILLION/yr. according to some estimates.

Sociopaths sleep VERY well at night.

They have no guilt, no remorse, no conscience, no shame.

All they care about are themselves.

In this case, they are only sorry that they got caught.

They seemed like very nice folks.;)

Sociopaths often "seem" nice.

Hopefully the "plea bargain" will include a LOOOOONG time before they ever hear a wooden door slam.

Full restitution with interest will be probably ordered, by the Court, but as a practical matter, the defendants will have paid their lawyers first, and then they will then claim utter poverty, and not a dime will ever be paid in restitution.

Women thought Ted Bundy was a dream boat, apparently . . .

LOL! It seems that every time there's a serial killer, or a bank robber or something, the next door neighbors say that!:D

That can be the scociopaths stock in trade unfortunatly. I doubt they even have any remorse when caught. They seemsd to have owed a fair dollar to the revenue people.

Joel Rifkin was a long-time customer at my rental business about 20 years ago. He was the last person you would expect to murder 18 prostitutes.

He never had any money. Now I know why.

Sociopath? Better that the $3.5MM was re-invested into the US economy (he hired builders and local workers) than used to pay for military parasitism and outright murder in Iraq and Afghanistan (among other abominations). I call him a patriot or a modern-day Robin Hood. Stole from the unworthy and paid the worthy.

According to the paper they have given up two real estate holdings inlcuding the large house we worked on, two cars and $29,000 in jewlery.

He also will be banned for life from his chosen profession (not theiving).