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Newport Beach contractor gets 18 months in prison for tax evasion

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A Newport Beach contractor was sentenced Tuesday to 18 months in federal prison for underreporting his income by about $2 million.

The government lost out on roughly $300,000 in tax revenue as a result of Jeremy Scott Levine, 42, underreporting his income over a five-year period, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

U.S. District Judge Margaret M. Morrow ordered Levine, who owns Newport-based JSL Construction and Landscaping, to pay an $80,000 fine to the federal government in addition to $300,000 in restitution to the IRS, the Daily Pilot reported.

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Levine admitted cashing customers’ checks without reporting the income on his personal or corporate tax returns between 2006 and 2010.

Prosecutors said Levine also purposely cashed checks in small increments to avoid federal rules that require financial institutions to report cash transactions larger than $10,000, according to the IRS.

Levine pleaded guilty in July 2013 to one count of filing a false tax return and one count of structuring a cash transaction.

He is scheduled to start his prison term in July.

jeremiah.dobruck@latimes.com

Twitter: @JeremiahDobruck

Jeremiah Dobruck is a Times Community News staff writer.

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