IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Presents: Tax Case of the Month

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May Tax Case of the Month

Owner of O.C. staffing companies sentenced to 8 years in prison for tax crimes, admits to cheating IRS out of nearly $60 million

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Field Office for earning the May Tax Case of the Month.

Luis E. Perez was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $38,052,767 in restitution to the IRS following a $60 million tax scheme. Perez willfully evaded nearly $30 million in personal taxes and filed a false return to conceal an additional $30 million in liabilities owed by his staffing companies.

Instead of remitting payroll taxes withheld from employee wages, Perez diverted funds for personal gain—purchasing high-end luxury items including a Ferrari 360 Spider F, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Mercedes-Benz SLS and G-Class, Lamborghini Aventador, and a Duffy Bay Island boat. He attempted to obscure ownership by titling the assets under various businesses and associates.

Additionally, he used a Visa Black card obtained under another person’s name (now his wife) to make personal purchases, paying off the charges with business funds.

Outstanding work by Special Agent Andrew Yue, Investigative Analyst Tammy Adkins, and the entire Los Angeles Field Office. Congratulations on an impactful case!

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IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.