Mario Saikhon; Imprisoned in Largest U.S. Tax Case

Mario Saikhon, a wealthy Imperial Valley grower who was imprisoned last fall on bribery charges in the largest individual criminal tax case in U.S. history, has died. He was 59.

Saikhon died Monday of lung cancer at Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, three months after he was temporarily released from federal prison because of health problems.

He was sentenced in September to 6 1/2 years in prison and fined $1.25 million after he pleaded guilty to five felony charges of tax evasion and two of bribery.

In the largest settlement of a U.S. tax case, Saikhon already had paid nearly $22 million in back taxes, penalties and interest at the time he pleaded guilty to the charges last June.

The Internal Revenue Service charged that Saikhon paid $647,518 in bribes during the 1980s to IRS auditor Robert Morales in an attempt to evade more than $10 million in taxes. Morales, 63, of El Cajon and his son, Robert Morales Jr. of El Cajon, are serving prison terms for their part in the scheme.

Last October, Saikhon closed his Holtville-area farm, which once employed 2,200 people. Federal records showed the farm, which produced lettuce, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus, grossed more than $130 million from 1985 to 1990.

A doctor who treated Saikhon for pneumonia in December discovered the lung cancer while Saikhon was serving his sentence at Nellis Air Force Base. Saikhon was released Christmas Day, a month and a half after entering prison.

The family said Saikhon’s lung cancer was diagnosed four years ago, but surgery had indicated that the tumor was benign.

Saikhon is survived by his wife, Dora; his mother, Rosario Gutierrez-Perez-Saikhon of El Centro; a son, Jeff of El Centro, and three daughters, Carol Ann Saikhon of Beverly Hills and Nancy Borrelli and Diane Saikhon, both of La Jolla.