Convicted Broker Charged in Tax Evasion Scheme

A former vice president of a top Wall Street brokerage and 11 others were charged today with using money from an earlier fraud to organize a $1.1-million tax evasion scheme in upstate New York.

Mark Stahl, who was sentenced to five years in prison in 1987 for mail fraud at Shearson Lehman Brothers Inc., and the others were charged with setting up companies that conspired to evade $1.1 million in state fuel taxes, said Nancy Connell, spokeswoman for Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams.

They were charged with enterprise corruption under an organized crime statute that carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in jail and fines.

The alleged scheme involved several companies set up to deliver fuel to the Big Apple and Big M truck stops in the Albany suburb of Glenmont, Connell said.

The defendants allegedly bought home heating oil and had it sold as diesel fuel at the truck stops, Connell said. Through this process, they avoided paying diesel fuel taxes, which are much higher than home heating oil taxes, she said.

They were also accused of hiding from authorities the amount of diesel fuel they brought into the truck stops, evading still more taxes, she said.

Stahl was convicted of transferring more than $1 million in Shearson funds to various bank accounts he controlled in 1986 and 1987. He admitted in court, however, to a much larger scheme involving more than $18 million.