A 70-year-old Seattle real estate owner was sentenced to prison for tax evasion and filing false tax returns.

Steven Loo was convicted following a nine-day trial and ordered to spend 20 months in prison for his $4.7 million tax evasion scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Mr. Loo made a sustained, willful decision to evade taxes. The only thing that explains that is greed,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd stated. “A man who amasses $43 million in wealth can afford to pay his taxes — just like the 85% of us who pay our taxes fully and on time.”

Loo owned and operated multiple commercial real estate properties in western Washington and California, according to records filed in the case. He hired property management companies to manage the properties, and had the companies send profit from the properties to two bank accounts in the name of shell companies he controlled.

Loo hid real estate profits through shell companies, claimed zero tax for 20 years

Loo spent the money for his benefit and for his friends and family. He also re-invested funds in various businesses he controlled. However, Loo did not declare that income— over $4.7 million — on his tax returns. He used shell companies and repeated transfers of funds to conceal the income from the IRS, according to records filed in the case.

“At trial, the government presented evidence detailing the eight properties operated by Loo via various limited liability companies (LLCs),” the attorney’s office stated. “The income from the LLCs was funneled into bank accounts associated with two specific inactive entities that were established in Washington in 1999. Loo did not report this income to the IRS. Loo failed to inform his tax return preparer of these funds that were income from his properties.”

Loo claimed he owed no tax at all over 20 years and even claimed a net refund from the IRS.

“Loo is living the American dream yet believes he has no obligation to pay the taxes that support our nation,” prosecutors said in asking for a 51-month sentence. “Loo was not content with merely failing to report his income. Instead, he contrived a plan to hide his wealth from the IRS using shell companies and money-routing schemes. When Loo’s luck ran out, and an IRS criminal investigator knocked on his door, he continued his deception by trotting out a fairy tale about using imaginary losses to offset his income.”

Along with serving prison time, Loo must also pay a $250,000 fine and serve three years of supervised release following his prison term. The attorney’s office noted Loo has already paid back taxes to the IRS of $1,603,686.

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SeattleAP — 

President Donald Trump fired the new top US prosecutor in Seattle on Wednesday less than an hour after the attorney was unanimously appointed by the federal judges in the district, highlighting tensions between the courts and the president over the powerful positions.

Roger Rogoff, a former judge and veteran state and federal prosecutor, was sworn in as US attorney before 8 a.m. at the courthouse in downtown Seattle. In a phone interview, he said he then went to the US Attorney’s Office and asked to meet with Charles Neil Floyd, whose 120-day interim term in the position ended in February.

As he waited in a lobby, Rogoff said, he received an email from the Trump administration informing him he’d been removed. He is consulting with other lawyers about suing over his firing, he said.

Presidents normally appoint US attorneys, the top federal prosecutor in each judicial district. The positions require Senate confirmation, except in temporary appointments. When temporary appointments expire before a nominee is confirmed, the judges in a judicial district can name a US attorney.

But under Trump, the Justice Department has sought to leave unconfirmed prosecutors in their positions indefinitely, often through novel personnel maneuvers.

“District court judges can appoint a temporary U.S. Attorney, and POTUS can fire them,” Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a social media post Wednesday. He added that the judges who appointed Rogoff “abandoned the time-honored process of consultation with the administration so that the selected U.S. Attorney is qualified to serve in the administration.”

Trump named Floyd, who previously served as an immigration judge, interim US attorney last October but never forwarded his nomination to the Senate. When Floyd’s time as interim US attorney expired, Trump simply shifted his title, a tactic the administration has also tried in other federal judicial districts: It named him first assistant US attorney, while leaving the top post empty.

In May, a US appeals court panel expressed skepticism that the maneuver was legal. The federal judges in the city decided to take applications for the position, and it appointed a bipartisan panel to review the applications.

On Wednesday morning the court — comprising 17 active and senior judges appointed by five presidents — issued its unanimous order naming Rogoff the US attorney for western Washington.

Democratic Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who had opposed Floyd for the US attorney job, blasted Rogoff’s quick firing.

“Throughout his career, he has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to public service, and he was appointed legally by the federal judges in the Western District of Washington,” the senator said in a written statement. “This administration doesn’t want to deal with advice and consent—they just want to install cronies to carry out a corrupt political agenda.”

In December, Alina Habba resigned as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey after an appeals court said she had been serving in the post unlawfully.

Lindsey Halligan, who pursued indictments against a pair of Trump’s adversaries, left her position as an acting US attorney in Virginia after a judge concluded her appointment was unlawful and that indictments she brought against James and former FBI Director James Comey must be dismissed.

The judges there named James Hundley, who had handled criminal and civil cases for more than 30 years, but the administration fired him. It also fired a court-appointed US attorney in northern New York.

Rogoff, who spent 20 years as a state prosecutor and six as a federal prosecutor before becoming a state judge, said he knew the administration might fire him immediately. But he said he had no qualms about the potential conflict he was walking into. Being US attorney is “the best job there is” for a prosecutor, he said.

“I’m really proud of my career,” Rogoff said. “The fact that the judges of this district — most of whom I’ve spent my career appearing in front of, or trying cases against, or working with — believed that I was the right person to do this work is just really humbling and amazing.”