San Leandro Mayor Accused of Tax Fraud

A federal grand jury has indicted San Leandro Mayor David Karp on charges of conspiracy and tax evasion.

Karp, 57, who runs a wholesale soap business, was accused Tuesday of evading more than $125,000 in federal income taxes from 1986 to 1988.

The maximum sentence is 35 years in prison and $1.75 million in fines, U.S. Atty. John Mendez said.

The indictment said Karp and Marvin L. Schachter, 65, of Hayward each put more than $326,000 in revenue from their Cal Ben Co. into an undisclosed bank account to hide it from the Internal Revenue Service. They also are charged with failing to disclose the money to their tax preparer.

The company is an Oakland wholesaler of household soap products, Mendez said.

Karp could not be reached immediately for comment. His office said he was in Sacramento on Tuesday.

Karp, who once handled field telephone security for the Oakland Raiders football team, was elected to the San Leandro City Council in 1982 and to the first of two four-year terms as mayor in 1986.

He has defended the Alameda County community against allegations of racism in the wake of a melee between high school students and police in 1991, and after an earlier cross-burning. A state Fair Employment and Housing Commission report criticized the city’s racial climate, but Karp disputed its findings.