Seattle real estate owner sentenced to prison for $4.7 million tax evasion scheme

July 18, 2026 - 01:54

A 70-year-old Seattle property owner was sentenced to federal prison on Friday for orchestrating a long-running tax evasion scheme that cheated the government out of nearly $4.7 million. The man, who owned and managed multiple commercial and residential buildings in the Seattle area, pleaded guilty earlier this year to charges of tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

Court documents show that for more than a decade, the real estate owner deliberately underreported his rental income and inflated business expenses on his personal and corporate tax filings. He used cash payments from tenants and diverted funds through multiple bank accounts to hide the true amount of money he was making. Prosecutors said he also claimed deductions for personal expenses, including luxury travel and home renovations, as business costs.

The scheme unraveled after an IRS criminal investigation uncovered the discrepancies. Investigators found that between 2012 and 2020, the man failed to report over $12 million in gross income. In addition to the prison sentence, the judge ordered him to pay full restitution to the IRS, plus penalties and interest.

During the sentencing hearing, the judge noted the defendant's age but emphasized the deliberate and sustained nature of the fraud. The man will serve 27 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. His attorney argued that his client had already begun selling off properties to satisfy the tax debt. The case serves as a reminder that even long-running financial schemes eventually catch up with those who try to cheat the system.