Tax fraud lands Indian doctor in trouble

Washington, Oct 9: A federal jury convicted an Indian American cardiologist for more than $16 million income tax fraud and false tax returns.

The prosecution evidence presented at the six-day trial, Pradeep Srivastava, 50, of Potomac, Maryland, conducted a huge volume of trading in stocks and stock options.

During the late 1990 'bull market', he earned more than $40 million in short-term capital gains, much of them from trading in stock options involving high-technology stocks such as America Online, Dell Computer, Yahoo, Qualcomm and Inktomi.

For filing his tax returns for 1998 and 1999, Srivastava provided his accountant with information about those trades that generated capital losses, but not about vast majority of his short-term capital gains.

Srivastava faces a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine for each of two counts of tax evasion and a maximum sentence of three years in prison, and a $250,000 fine for filing a false income tax return.

US District Judge Roger W Titus would sentence in Jan 2010.

At present, Srivastava is on home detention
Judge Titus also ordered Srivastava to promise two parcels of real estate in Potomac, Maryland, as security for his appearance.

OneIndia News