Danville Couple Indicted on Federal Tax Fraud Charges

A husband and wife from Danville were indicted in federal court on charges of stealing money from an Islamic educational institute and filing false tax returns, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced today. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag charged Kamran Azizi and Hedyeh Shoar with conspiracy to defraud the government and charged Azizi with two counts of filing false tax returns.

During 2005 through 2008, Shoar was employed as an accountant in the Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi (MTO) Shahmaghsoudi, a school of Sufi Islam, according to an indictment filed Oct. 2 and unsealed last Thursday. Azizi was in charge of taking donations at several MTO centers throughout Northern California, prosecutors said. The indictment alleges Azizi kept a portion of members’ donations to the MTO for himself.

His wife, Shoar, knew of his actions and helped him carry them out, prosecutors said. Azizi and Shoar filed joint federal income tax returns for 2005 and 2006 before the two divorced. Azizi filed individual tax returns for 2007 and 2008, according to court documents. None of the tax returns listed income from the MTO donations that Azizi allegedly kept for himself, although Haag said it was his primary source of income. Azizi listed his income as $5,114 for 2007 and $9,037 for 2008, according to court documents.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not say how much money Azizi and Shoar took in donations from the MTO centers. Azizi was arraigned Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Laporte. Authorities are still searching for Shoar. The maximum penalty for conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine with three years of supervised release, prosecutors said.

The maximum penalty for filing false tax returns is three years in prison and a $250,000 fine with one year of supervised release.

By Bay City News

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