Las Vegas Real Estate Broker Convicted of Tax Fraud

WASHINGTON, March 18 -- The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following news release:

A real estate broker, who failed to file federal income tax returns for nearly 20 years and attempted to evade more than half a million dollars in income taxes, was convicted today by a jury in Las Vegas, Nevada, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada.

William Waller Jr. was convicted of one count of attempting to evade the payment of federal income taxes of more than $500,000 for the years 2004-2009 and two counts of failing to file his 2011 and 2012 income tax returns.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Waller, after filing his tax return for 1998 reporting zero income, failed to file federal individual income tax returns for almost two decades. He concealed his real estate income from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with various methods, including using bank accounts in the name of a business to receive his commissions and pay his personal expenses, drawing substantial amounts of cash from those accounts, and borrowing against a piece of real property he owned to eliminate his equity in the property. For example, despite earning income of more than $400,000 in 2011 and $170,000 in 2012, Waller filed no tax returns in those years.

Waller faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the tax evasion count and one year in prison on each failure to file a tax return count as well as a period of supervised release, monetary penalties and restitution.

U.S. District Judge James C. Mahan scheduled Waller's sentencing for June 21.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Trutanich commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and United States Department of Justice Trial Attorneys Christopher Magnani and Michael Landman, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division's website at www.justice.gov/tax.