A Fresno woman pleaded guilty to tax evasion in federal court in relation to her husband’s orthodontics practice.
Pilar Rose, 51, also agreed to forfeit her mansion and BMW as part of the plea.
The big picture: Court documents state that from 2012 through 2015, Rose prepared false financial statements for her husband’s orthodontics practice that significantly underreported the practice’s profits.
- Rose and her husband evaded over $870,000 that they owed in federal taxes.
- In 2016, Rose obstructed an IRS audit of her and her husband’s taxes. Rose altered hundreds of checks that were for their nondeductible personal expenses, including their mortgage, utilities, landscaping, pool cleaning, credit cards and children’s college tuition.
- Rose also created false financial statements for her husband’s orthodontics practice to match the altered checks.
- She gave the altered checks and false financial statements to IRS auditors in an attempt to avoid paying the federal taxes that they owed.
Go deeper: In June 2015, Rose applied for a $1.5 million home mortgage refinance loan on their mansion on Van Ness Blvd.
- She submitted copies of her and her husband’s federal tax returns that showed significantly greater income than was reported on the actual returns. The bank declined the loan because of the discrepancies.
- One month later, Rose applied to another bank for a $1.475 million refinance loan and represented that their bank accounts had over $250,000, even though they actually had under $3,000 in them. She also provided false copies of their tax returns and a profit and loss statement of the orthodontics practice. The second bank approved the loan.
- In September 2017, Rose purchased a BMW sedan for around $90,000, making a $25,000 down payment and financing $65,000 through a loan from a third bank.
- Rose lied on that loan application by saying she was an attorney who made over $600,000 annually. Further, Rose used a Social Security number that belonged to her husband’s former dental school classmate.
What we’re watching: Rose is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17, 2025, and faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine for the tax evasion charge.
- She also faces another three years in prison and a $5,000 fine for the obstruction charge.
