November 12, 2015

Another Man Sentenced for Motion Picture Tax Credit Scam

BATON ROUGE, LA—United States Attorney Walt Green announced that GEORGE M. KOSTUCH, age 46, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Shelly D. Dick to serve a three-year term of probation and ordered to pay $161,850 in restitution to the State of Louisiana.

KOSTUCH previously pled guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the State of Louisiana’s Motion Picture Industry Development Tax Credit Program (“Tax Credit Program”). KOSTUCH owned and was associated with two film production companies and obtained tax credits for an episodic game show series focused on sports trivia. At his guilty plea, KOSTUCH admitted that, from June 2010 through March 2011, KOSTUCH used his control over companies in the industry to cause fraudulent checks to be issued and delivered, totaling $539,000, for production expenses that had not actually been incurred. These fraudulent checks made it appear as though KOSTUCH and others with whom he was involved incurred $539,000 in eligible production expenses, which ultimately caused the Louisiana Economic Development Office (“LED”) to issue a certified tax credit in the amount of $161,850. KOSTUCH and others received the benefit of the tax credit knowing that it had been obtained through false representations.

This investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Louisiana Inspector General’s Office. The matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Frederick A. Menner, Jr.