A card room owner whose gifts of travel tickets led to criminal convictions of two Colma town councilmen was sentenced to 15 months in a federal prison Thursday for evading $973,000 in income taxes.
Rene Medina, 63, of Atherton, admitted fabricating more than $1.1 million in business expenses for his Lucky Chances casino in Colma from 1999 through 2001, prosecutors said. They said some of the money paid for furniture and redecoration.
Defense lawyer Cristina Arguedas said the sentence was imposed by US District Judge Jeffrey White was negotiated with prosecutors and took into account Medina's extensive contributions to charities in the United States and his native Philippines.
He has already repaid the taxes as part of his sentence, and is scheduled to report to prison in January, Arguedas said.
In separate cases, two former Colma councilmen, Philip Lum Jr. and Ronald Maldonado, pleaded guilty last year to accepting plane tickets to the Philippines from Medina and failing to disclose them. At the time of the gifts, Medina's card room was seeking a permit from the council.
Cardroom Owner Gets Prison Term
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Doktor Avalanche
- Asst Secretary, the Dept of Jesters
- Posts: 1767
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Cardroom Owner Gets Prison Term
A little lesson in cooking the books (and graft, and palm greasing, and turning evidence)...
The laissez-faire argument relies on the same tacit appeal to perfection as does communism. - George Soros