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A grand jury indictment says he owes $382,000 in taxes accrued while running a consulting business in Virginia.
By CHRIS TISCH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 24, 2002
LARGO -- A federal grand jury has handed up a seven-count indictment charging a Largo man with not paying $382,000 in taxes while he operated a computer consulting firm in Virginia.
Michael A. Cain, 56, is charged with evading taxes in the late 1980s and early 1990s while he operated the business. The Internal Revenue Service has tried for 10 years to collect the money, but Cain never paid, the indictment alleges.
Cain paid $80,000 in credit card debts and gave $30,000 to family members rather than pay his taxes during that time, the indictment states.
Cain, who formerly lived in Reston, Va., and Clifton, Va., is accused of lying to revenue officers and using other tricks to avoid paying taxes. Rather than depositing checks from his customers into a business account, Cain cashed them at a check-cashing business to conceal them, the indictment states.
The strategy was costly: Cain spent $8,500 in check-cashing fees. But he took in $550,000 in business income at the check-cashing business, the indictment states.
The indictment states Cain also tried to conceal income by opening a business checking account in his son's name, then depositing business income into the account and using the money for personal expenses, according to a report from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Alexandria, Va.
The IRS filed federal tax liens from 1993 to 2001 in an attempt to collect the taxes.
The indictment also alleges Cain didn't file income tax returns from 1998 to 2000, when he had gross business receipts of more than $342,000.
Cain, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is scheduled for arraignment June 3 in Alexandria.