Lawsuit accuses ex-Nevada U.S. attorney of failing to pay taxes
Nearly eight years after former Nevada U.S. Attorney Lawrence Semenza II was sentenced to prison for failing to pay taxes, the U.S. government filed a lawsuit Tuesday alleging he and his wife owe more than $1 million in unpaid taxes.
Semenza, a U.S. attorney from 1975 to 1977, once led the government’s prosecution of tax cheats in Nevada. He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison in January 2015 for failing to pay $290,009 in taxes, and was ordered to pay the money as restitution.
According to the federal complaint filed Tuesday, Semenza and his wife, Romie Semenza, owe $1,026,444 in unpaid joint federal income taxes between 2002 and 2013. Lawrence Semenza is also accused of failing to pay more than $290,000 in individual federal income taxes from 2005 to 2010, and more than $77,000 in federal corporate income taxes from 2007 to 2009.
The complaint also accuses Lawrence Semenza of failing to pay the $290,009 in restitution from the January 2015 sentencing on misdemeanor charges.
Semenza did not reply to request for comment on Tuesday night.
The government is also seeking to foreclose federal tax liens against the couple’s home in Henderson, according to the complaint.
A lien was first filed against the home in January 2015, according to the complaint. The next month, before Lawrence Semenza surrendered for his prison sentence, he and his wife transferred the property to Romie Semenza’s son, Philippe Schaad.
The couple fraudulently transferred the title to Schaad, who is a citizen of Switzerland, “with the actual intent of hindering, delaying, or defrauding the United States,” according to the complaint.
In June, Schaad allegedly transferred the home’s title to a limited liability company he owns, a year after the IRS sent Lawrence Semenza a notice of intent to foreclose. The property was listed for sale in September at $850,000, according to the complaint.
During his career as a U.S. attorney, Semenza led the tax prosecution of Nevada brothel boss Joe Conforte. After his time as a prosecutor, Semenza had a long and successful career as a defense attorney in Las Vegas.
In 2016, the Nevada Supreme Court reinstated Semenza’s law license following a recommendation from the Nevada State Bar.
Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.