Grower Gets Prison, $23-Million Penalty in Plea Deal : Courts: Agreement is the largest settlement of an individual's felony U. S. tax case. The wealthy farmer was accused of bribery and faced a 102-year sentence.

Grower Gets Prison, $23-Million Penalty in Plea Deal : Courts: Agreement is the largest settlement of an individual’s felony U. S. tax case. The wealthy farmer was accused of bribery and faced a 102-year sentence.

By ALAN ABRAHAMSON

June 10, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN DIEGO —

Mario Saikhon, a prominent Imperial County grower, pleaded guilty Tuesday to seven felony tax and bribery charges and agreed to pay $23 million in back taxes and fines, the largest settlement of an individual’s criminal tax case in U. S. history, prosecutors said.

Under a plea bargain struck Tuesday in U. S. District Court in San Diego, prosecutors agreed to recommend that Saikhon, accused of giving more than $600,000 in bribes to an Internal Revenue Service agent to evade more than $10 million in taxes, serve no more than 6 1/2 years in prison. The agent and his son, a tax preparer, have pleaded guilty and are in prison.

Saikhon had been indicted on 22 felony counts that could have brought up to 102 years in prison. His case involved the largest bribe in IRS annals. He paid to ensure that his tax returns from 1981 to 1990--which were littered with bookkeeping irregularities--were not examined by honest auditors, prosecutors said.

The crimes of Leona Helmsley pale in comparison, prosecutors said. The New York hotel queen, now serving four years in federal prison, was convicted of evading $1.7 million in taxes.

“I think the ($23 million) will hurt,” said Assistant U. S. Atty. Phillip L. B. Halpern, the lead prosecutor in the case. But Halpern added, “The six years he’ll spend in jail will cost him more than he’s going to pay.”

Saikhon, 58, of El Centro, whose net worth has been estimated at $100 million, declined to comment Tuesday on the case. He remains free on $5-million bail pending sentencing Sept. 21 by Senior U. S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr.

Saikhon runs one of the largest farming operations in Southern California. Between 1985 and 1990, according to the indictment, his vegetable fields--lettuce, cantaloupe and a variety of other crops--grossed more than $130 million.

He also has extensive real estate holdings, including waterfront properties in La Jolla, a house in El Centro and condominiums in Santa Barbara and Manhattan, Halpern said.