Cheating tax man may lead to prison for medical consultant
Testifying in his tax trial, Howard Awand admitted he lied when he told people he was a Vietnam veteran and a CIA agent. He did it to create a "persona." The lies made him feel better about himself. Or so he said.
The medical consultant and former Las Vegan explained he lied "to make a living for myself and my family."
Then, with all the sincerity he could muster, he told federal jurors he didn't know it was a crime not to pay your taxes. Really.
Sure, the government showed he earned $8 million over four years and he spent $6.7 million by living large -- spending millions on antiques, wine and homes. He bought an antique desk for more than $125,000 but didn't pay his taxes. Then those darn federal investigators started nosing around his medical consulting business and, in 2005, business dried up. He intended to pay his taxes. Really.
Jurors didn't buy his tale of woe. The persona he created on the witness stand in January didn't serve him well. Awand and his wife, Linda, were convicted on four counts each of willfully failing to pay their income taxes. They owed $2.5 million for the years 2001 through 2004.
Now they're bankrupt. Although their crimes are misdemeanors, a pretrial sentencing report recommended they each go to prison for four years, surprisingly stiff for the federal system. Government prosecutors agreed wholeheartedly with that recommendation, arguing Awand perjured himself on the stand.
The couple were supposed to be sentenced this past Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, but they asked for a delay. Awand now lives in Indiana operating a bed and breakfast, while his wife does the same in Vermont. The suddenly thrift-conscious Awands asked their sentencing be delayed until the week of June 25 so they wouldn't have to make two trips to Las Vegas.
Why then? That's when Awand is to be sentenced for that funny-sounding crime, misprision of felony, which means he didn't report crimes he observed. Those are the same charges negotiated in plea bargains with Dr. Mark Kabins and Las Vegas attorney Noel Gage.
Awand was the middleman, who found and brought lucrative personal injury cases to local attorneys like Gage and found cooperative doctors like Kabins to testify (not always truthfully). Awand was paid big bucks by the attorneys.
Awand admitted he received 40 percent of the money Gage received in personal injury and malpractice cases he referred to the lawyer. The victims were people like Melodie Simon, who didn't get as much as they deserved to have when their cases were resolved.
The government would have preferred the April 7 sentencing date, because it's always helpful to remind Americans to pay their income taxes by the April 15 due date. Dawson set the couple's sentencing on the tax case for April 20.
I'm guessing Dawson will give a tough sentence in the tax case because Awand, during a withering cross-examination by Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre, didn't seem believable. Judges tend to come down harder on defendants who lie on the stand. Awand's attorney will argue his client didn't lie, at least not on the stand.
When Gage, 71, and Awand, 65, are sentenced by visiting U.S. District Judge Justin Quackenbush on June 25, it's likely they won't get anything close to a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Quackenbush didn't think it was much of a case, even dismissing it at one point. Later, an appellant court reinstated it.
Quackenbush gave Kabins probation, Gage may get probation, and Awand may be the only one to get prison time for not paying his taxes.
Did Al Capone teach us nothing about messing with the tax man?
Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.
