Former CEO Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Posted on October 18, 2017

Peter Nordberg was the CEO of Max International located in Salt Lake City. Max International makes and sells nutritional supplements.

Nordberg was paid by Max International with a salary and commissions related to sales. Bonuses were also paid to Nordberg, but he instructed Max International to pay the bonus income to a nominee instead of to himself, thereby concealing the bonus income. As a result, he filed false tax returns with the IRS which substantially underreported his income, causing a tax loss to the government of approximately $275,000.00.

A nominee is a person or entity that did not perform the work giving rise to the income that was earned, but received the income in issue. In this case, the nominee was used solely to avoid the reporting of income to Nordberg which, in turn, avoided reporting that income to the IRS.

When you file a tax return, you sign that tax return under penalties of perjury attesting to the honesty and accuracy of that tax return. If you intentionally do not report all of your income on a tax return, you have filed a false or fraudulent tax return which exposes you not only to civil penalties ($$$), but also to criminal penalties (Jail!). Nordberg faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison, plus restitution and penalties.

If you have filed a tax return that was not honest and accurate, and if the IRS has not yet contacted you, contact us, we can help.