Stockton Tax Violator Sentenced to a Year in Federal Prison

SACRAMENTO, CA—United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. sentenced Saeed Ur Rahman, 47, of Stockton, to a year and a day in prison and a $5,000 fine, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Rahman was found guilty by a jury on October 24, 2011, of filing false tax returns for tax years 2004 and 2005.

At trial, the jury found that in 2004, Rahman failed to pay tax on the profit that he received from the sale of property in Stockton. Evidence established that Rahman used what is referred to as a like-kind exchange to sell one piece of property and buy another piece of property. If done properly, a like-kind exchange can be used to defer paying tax on the profit of the property sold. Evidence at trial, however, established that the exchange was fraudulent and was used by Rahman to avoid paying tax on the gain from the property.

The jury also found that Rahman falsely claimed on his 2005 tax return that the gain from the sale of another property was not taxable because it had been his personal residence for at least two years. Evidence at trial established that he had owned it for only seven months.

In sentencing Rahman, Judge England said that Rahman was sophisticated in real estate matters and that although Rahman was well known in the Stockton community, that did not absolve him of the responsibility to follow the law. In fact, Rahman’s position in the community almost made his criminal conduct worse. Judge England found that some of the evidence that Rahman presented regarding the tax loss figure was “incredible.”

Rahman’s brother, Obed Rahman, was also convicted of a tax offense. Obed Rahman pleaded guilty on June 9, 2011, to conspiring to obstruct the IRS in the computation and collection of income taxes for tax year 2004. Obed Rahman’s co-defendants, Mohammad Nasir Khan and Shaker Ahmed pleaded guilty on June 23, 2011 and October 13, 2011, respectively, to the same offense. The evidence established that the three had utilized a fraudulent 1031 exchange so that Obed Rahman and Mohammad Nasir Khan could avoid paying tax on the gain of a property that they sold.

These cases are the product of investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys John K. Vincent and Michael D. Anderson prosecuted the cases.