Fil-Am concert promoter convicted of tax fraud

CHICAGO – A Filipino concert promoter was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison after being found guilty of “counts 1, 2 and 3 of the indictment" for filing false income tax returns. Judge David H. Coar of the United States Northern District Court of Illinois in Chicago said the 30-month sentence imposed on Manilen Mendoza, also known as Manilen Mangaldan and Manilen Blake, will run concurrently. Mendoza, 45, was ordered to report to the Bureau of Prisons last Sept. 14. After her release, she will be placed under supervised release for one year. She was also ordered not to possess a firearm, ammunition, destructive device or any other dangerous weapon. Mendoza was assessed to pay $300 and DNA samples will be taken from her. Mendoza immediately filed an appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. A caregiver from Schiller Park, Illinois, Mendoza was accused by the US Internal Revenue Service of filing false tax returns for three years from 2004 to 2006. According to the indictment, Mendoza was the owner and operator of a concert promotion business called Infinity Productions and later, which was later known as Prestige Entertainment, Inc. Guilty on all counts During a three-day jury trial last March, Mendoza was found guilty on all counts. She was set free after posting a $300,000 personal recognizance bond, while she asked lawyer Paul Camarena to file a motion for judgment of acquittal and a new trial. In her motion, Mendoza argued that the "evidence of her other wrongs, specifically evidence of Mrs. Mendoza's false statements to investors was unfairly prejudicial to her." During the trial, "the government called four out of seven witnesses, who testified about Mrs. Mendoza's other wrongs." With regard to sufficiency of the evidence regarding her failing to report income on her 2004 tax return, Mendoza claims the government did not present any evidence. She said the government has only called her tax preparers for 2005 and 2006 as witnesses. As such, she moved for judgment acquittal as to her 2004 charge. Mendoza also argued that the government erred in allowing her "to call certain witnesses to rebut or support her testimony." Because of this, her lawyer said, it caused "Mrs. Mendoza to abandon a key and legitimate argument." Big money In the indictment, Patrick J. King Jr., Assistant US Attorney, representing the government, said that Mendoza obtained four investors for the purpose of holding four concerts: Lionel Richie in California (2004), Olivia Newton John in the Philippines (2005), Stevie Wonder and Kenny Rogers in Illinois (2006). In each case, the concert did not occur and Mendoza "used these funds for other purposes including transferring a portion of the funds to other businesses she operated." "Mendoza took investors' money and converted it to her personal use but failed to report the money she received from her entertainment business as income on her tax returns," according to Special Agent Maria Suarez of the Chicago Field Office of the IRS Criminal investigation. According to the indictment, Mendoza reported taxable income of $14,000 in her 2004 tax return. She did not report additional gross income of $180,243, which she had received in 2004 from her business, Infinity Productions. In 2005, Honoria Alcantara invested $37,500 in the Olivia Newton John and Kenny Rogers concerts. Neither concerts were held and the funds were not returned. In her 2005 tax return, she reported taxable income of $17,699 but not the additional gross income of $104,801 she had received in 2005 from her business, Prestige Entertainment, Inc. In 2006, Mendoza also solicited $250,000 from Nora Gobert for the concert of Stevie Wonder and Kenny Rogers. No such concerts were held and when Gobert sought the return of her money, Mendoza advised her that the Department of Homeland Security had temporarily frozen her bank accounts. But she would return the money once the freeze order was lifted. But no such freeze order was placed on Mendoza's accounts. Also in 2006, Maria Gatdula was identified by IRS as one of those who gave Mendoza $25,000-investment for the Kenny Rogers concert. In like manner, although she had received additional income in 2006 of $247,310 from her business Prestige Entertainment, Inc., she only reported a taxable income of $12,190 for that year. In the three-year period, Mendoza did not report to the IRS a gross income of $532,354. According to Suarez, Mendoza was first arrested by the San Francisco police in March 2008 for defrauding investors out of their money. She was jailed there for about a year before she was brought to Chicago for arraignment on the federal charges. After she pleaded not guilty, a trial ensued on March 9. Three days later, the jury returned a guilty verdict. - GMANews.TV