Results tagged “harrietwalters”

Add one more to the growing list of folks involved in the massive Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal who have been sentenced to prison time. Marilyn Yoon, the Neiman Marcus saleswoman who was Harriette Walters' personal shopper, was sentenced yesterday to one year in jail. Yoon pleaded guilty to one charge of possession of property obtained by fraud, and also agreed to forfeit her home. The U.S. attorney's office said that Yoon should be credited with coming forward right away and expressing regret, and recommended the relatively lenient 12-month sentence.

The Post is reporting that a guilty plea looks like it's been entered for former D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue employee El-Hadj Drame, who amazingly enough stands accused of corruption and bribery all on his own, without any help from Harriette Walters and her crew. Papers were filed that indicate a guilty plea for Drame, who is accused of receipt of a bribe by a public official for accepting a payment of $6,000 in exchange for lowering the tax liability of a business he was auditing. Doesn't seem like the business in question has been publicly named yet. Isn't it amazing that the recent tax office scandal makes this $6000 bribe seem like small potatoes? In case you missed the Post's big spread in Sunday's paper chronicling the full history of the $50 million, 20-year-long Walters-led embezzlement scheme, here's the link.

Nice work by the Post's David Nakamura over at D.C. Wire -- he figured out that you can still call an old extension at the Office of Tax and Revenue and hear an outgoing message that begins, "You've reached the office of Harriette Walters." Apparently officials decided to keep the line active with Walters's voice message to see if anyone would leave a message for her that would aid investigators. We just gave it a call ourselves -- 202.442.6762 -- and indeed, there is Walters, sounding officious as she leaves instructions on how to reach her. Give it a call yourself if you've ever been curious what her voice sounds like, but do it fast. Odds are good the city is going to shut it down now that random residents are calling it for kicks.

As expected, former IRS employee Robert Steven, 55, pleaded guilty in federal court today for his involvement in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue scandal. Steven remains free until he is sentenced on Oct. 8. The Post has a bit more information about the role Steven and his estranged wife Patricia played in the enormous embezzlement scheme.

A bank account set up by the couple in the name of a clothing design firm took in $9.2 million in embezzled funds from 1990 to 2007, according to prosecutors. Of that, $1.7 million was transferred into a Wachovia account used primarily by Robert Steven, according to court documents. With that money, Steven bought four cars, all Jaguars, as well as a home in Edgewater and numerous vacations to the Bahamas, prosecutors said.

That $9.2 million is a pretty significant amount, though not as much as the $18 million former Bank of America employee Walter Jones helped to embezzle. Not to suggest that there's any silver lining to be found for the D.C. government in this case, but it is worth pointing out that two of key players in the scheme, people with access and expertise crucial to hiding over $50 million over the course of two decades, were not themselves employees of the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. Steven and his wife are described as longtime friends of accused mastermind Harriette Walters.

The Post says that Robert Steven, a former division director of the IRS's New Carrollton office, appears set to plead guilty in federal court today for his involvement in the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue scandal. Steven and his estranged wife are both longtime friends of Harriette Walters and have both been charged; Steven's charges are listed as possession of stolen property and conspiring to commit money laundering. Missing from the story: did Steven's IRS expertise help to make the scam possible? We're looking forward to finding out if and when a plea agreement is announced.