The U.S. Attorney's office for the District of Columbia has thrown the book at Ramon Roque, 73, co-owner of the "All American Papers" chain of retail stores, with a heavy dose of tax evasion charges, according to an announcement made by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro. Roque found himself in handcuffs and in court for the first time this afternoon, with Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Sharbaugh presiding, and he's out again on bail pending a hearing set for tomorrow before U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell.
The indictment laid out the charges against Roque and his anonymous partner, claiming that these entrepreneurs, who ran All American Papers—among other similarly patriotically named businesses such as All American Bakery & Café and All American Sole—apparently hadn't filed a proper federal income tax return from 2018 through 2020. During that time, their business raked in upwards of $14 million. They used a slew of techniques, like getting several Employer Identification Numbers and keeping their finances cryptic by splitting them across various accounts, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
What's more, the owners allegedly played a game of hide-and-seek with the IRS, giving out false ownership details to banks and using bogus identity info with payroll processors to keep their earnings off the taxman's radar, the indictment states. They even reportedly structured their bank deposits to skirt the Treasury's notice—claims Kareem Carter, Executive Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation's Washington, D.C. Field Office, which is spearheading the investigation.
Roque now faces one count of conspiring against the U.S. government to defraud it of tax assessments and collections, and three separate counts for his hat trick of avoiding filing returns. If the court finds him on the wrong side of the law, he could face a theoretical maximum of five years behind bars and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy charge alone, and up to a year and $25,000 per each count of not filing—though these are the highest possible sentences, not necessarily what he would get, as the final sentence would be at the discretion of the court based on federal guidelines.
The task of ensuring justice in this case has fallen to Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Borchert, who is handling the prosecution following IRS-CI's investigation work. Roque's and his business partner's plea to the indictment will become clearer after the upcoming court date, and while the charges are presently only accusations, the presumption of innocence stands until proven otherwise.
