Madisonville, Kentucky, Former Business Owner, Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison For Filing False Tax Returns

Ordered to pay $649,506.15 in restitution

OWENSBORO, Ky. - The former owner of Madisonville, Kentucky businesses was sentenced in United States District Court this week, by Chief Judge Joseph H. McKinley Jr., to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $649,506.15 in restitution, for filing false tax returns and for conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud, announced United States Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr.

Gholam A. Sattar-Shamsabadi, 58, operated a photo processing business in Madisonville, which he converted to a cafe, and a business called Fast Foto Finishing in Henderson, Kentucky, which he began in 2009.

According to court records, Shamsabadi, with the aid of an unindicted co-conspirator, filed false invoices for insurance claims for his business and one personal claim from 2006 to 2012. The total loss amount based on payout on six fraudulent claims totaled $649,506.15. In each of the claims, Shamsabadi claimed that his photo processing equipment was damaged by a power surge from lightning. Also, he claimed that neon signs were destroyed. In each claim, Shamsabadi submitted invoices and estimates for new equipment, and submitted invoices falsely claiming that he had purchased new replacement equipment. According to court documents, Shamsabadi received $135,804 2008 from Hartford Insurance in 2006; $53,993 from Zurich North America in 2010; $216,356 from State Farm Insurance in 2010; $7,613.22 from Liberty Mutual Auto in 2012; $205,000 from Kentucky Farm Bureau (Business Claims and Personal) in 2012; and $30,738.94 from Kentucky Farm Bureau (Personal) in 2012.

Further, Shamsabadi failed to report the proceeds of his insurance fraud as taxable income. In 2010, Shamsabadi failed to report $170,000 of unreported income and in 2012, he failed to report $247,156 in unreported income. Also, in each of these years, Shamsabadi filed tax returns under two different social security numbers creating a total Tax Loss of $82,381.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Judd. The Kentucky Insurance Fraud Investigation Division (KIFID) started this investigation and brought it to the attention of the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigations (CI).