Guilty plea entered for filing false tax returns
January 31, 2015 1:03 AM
Rebecca S. Green The Journal Gazette
A Fort Wayne businessman entered a guilty plea alongside three charges accusing him of filing false tax returns and lying to federal investigators.
According to a criminal complaint filed Friday, Jared E. Hochstedler failed to report loans and income from stock-for-equity agreements on his taxes, and lied during a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation while under oath.
He was charged with two counts of fraudulent statements and one count of perjury, court documents show.
From January 2008 to June 2009, Hochstedler participated in five stock-for-equity agreements, called “wrap agreements” related to a business he owned called Enzyme Environmental Solutions.
The transactions involved companies assuming debt owed to Hochstedler in exchange for stock in his company. According to court documents, Hochstedler failed to report that he was paid more than $2.8 million during that time for accrued wages and other debts.
In connection with those wrap agreements, one of those companies provided Hochstedler with $1,066,044 in loans. He is accused of using a substantial amount of that money for personal expenses, failing to report any of it on his income taxes.
Federal prosecutors also accuse him of selling stock in a beverage company for more than $1 million, having not invested any money in the stock. But on his tax returns, Hochstedler reported only $206,997 in capital gains, according to court documents.
In a civil investigation related to those transactions, Hochstedler told the SEC he sold the stock in the beverage company for between $300,000 and $400,000, according to court documents.
According to court documents, Hochstedler under-reported his income in 2008 and 2009.
He filed a plea agreement Friday as well, promising to cooperate with federal investigators in exchange for a potential reduction in the severity of sentencing, according to court documents.
Hochstedler’s plea agreement has not yet been accepted by a judge, according to court records.
rgreen@jg.net
