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Helping your boss, his wife, and his mistress evade taxes may be unwise

November 15, 2010

An Ohio accountant was sentenced last week to 11 years in prison on federal tax charges. It would take me at least that long to understand the situation that led to his sentence.

From the Department of Justice press release:

According to court testimony and documents, Dennis G. Sartain of Hilliard, Ohio, was the accountant for convicted Columbus-area home builder, Thomas Parenteau. Sartain conspired with Parenteau to commit tax-fraud and money-laundering schemes through which the pair defrauded the IRS of more than $1 million and defrauded banks into lending more than $18 million to Parenteau and his nominees. A jury convicted Parenteau for his role in these crimes in July of this year after a two-month trial.

The rest of the cast:

Marsha Parenteau, Mr. Parenteau's wife and a real estate broker in partnership with...

Pamela McCarty, Mr. Parenteau's mistress, mother of two of his children, and prosecution witness in his federal tax evasion trial.

A little background from the Columbus Dispatch:

McCarty said she decided to cooperate with the government after admitting herself to a Gahanna treatment facility in June 2008 to deal with alcoholism and emotional problems. When she returned home, she said Parenteau screamed at her, threatened her life and threw her against a wall in the mansion they shared at 4500 Dublin Rd.

Although Parenteau fathered McCarty's two daughters, who were born in 2002 and 2004, he remained married and in business with his wife, Marsha. The Parenteaus obtained the 30,000-square-foot mansion on Dublin Road, in Norwich Township near Hilliard, in 2003 for $1.8 million through a trust, with McCarty as the trustee. At various times, Parenteau shared the house with both women.

Mr. Parenteau had a very, um, understanding wife. Given the 11-year term that the accountant got, it's likely that the sentencing judge will be less accomodating. In addition to the 11 years, he got a brutal "I told you so" from the prosecutor, who had offered him a 2-year sentence in exchange for cooperation against Mr. Parenteau:

"I gave you a chance in 2006 to save yourself and your family, and you chose a different direction," Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Rolwing told Sartain yesterday. "You were given every opportunity for years to reduce that sentence."

...

"You drank the Kool-Aid, and you followed him in everything he asked you to do,"

The Moral? Just because somebody can pull of seemingly impossible domestic arrangements doesn't mean he can do the same thing with the tax law.

Tags: Parenteau.tax crime.

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