Businessman Convicted of $3.3-Million Tax Fraud
A Glendale businessman was convicted Thursday of bilking the state out of $3.3 million in payroll tax revenues by setting up 10 phony businesses since 1975.
James P. Lund, 68, owner of State Tax Control Co., was found guilty by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury of 18 counts of filing false tax returns, 14 counts of forgery and eight counts of preparing false documents, all felonies. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 27 to up to 10 years in state prison, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Rosenthal.
“It was pure greed. There was no other reason to do this,” Rosenthal said of Lund’s tax fraud.
Prosecutors charged that Lund masterminded the fraud to avoid paying the full amount of unemployment insurance and workman’s compensation taxes that he would owe.
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