Las Vegas real estate agent pleads guilty to tax fraud

By Steve Kanigher

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 | 1:30 p.m.

Las Vegas resident German Posada pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Philip Pro to charges of filing a false 2004 individual income tax return and making a false statement in a bankruptcy proceeding, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced today.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Posada admitted to filing a false individual income tax return for 2004 that under-reported the income from his business as a real estate agent in the Las Vegas area. Between 2003 and 2005, Posada earned commission income from International Realty and another realtor. He asked that International Realty issue some of his commission checks in the name of his then-girlfriend, and deposited those checks into a bank account in her name. Posada also admitted under-reporting his business income on his 2003 tax return and failing to file a timely 2005 tax return, despite knowing of his legal duty to report the roughly $557,212 in income that he received in 2005.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Posada in 2005 filed for bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nevada. In his original bankruptcy petition, and again in an amended petition, he made false statements, officials said. These included statements that he had no current income, had received no income during the two years immediately preceding 2005, and that 17 creditors held unsecured non-priority claims totaling $466,885 against him. Then, on Sept. 2, 2005, at a meeting of creditors, Posada falsely testified under oath before the bankruptcy trustee that he had received “one or two” and “probably two” commissions since May 13, 2005, when in fact he knew that he had received at least 19 commission checks totaling $130,575 during that time period.

As part of his plea agreement, Posada agreed to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $212,016, and to pay restitution to any victims of the bankruptcy fraud, in an amount to be determined by the court at sentencing.

Sentencing was set for Dec. 5, and Posada remains free on bail. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison on the tax charge and five years in prison on the bankruptcy fraud charge.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and Nevada's U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden commended the investigative efforts of the IRS Criminal Investigation agents who investigated the case and Tax Division trial attorneys John Scully and Thomas Flynn, who are prosecuting the case.