PORTLAND, OR—U.S. Attorney Amanda
Marshall announced today that Brian D. Stevens, 56, of Bend, Oregon, was
sentenced on Friday, May 5, 2012 to 48 months in prison for defrauding clients
of his former business, Summit Accomodators Inc., headquartered in Bend.
Pursuant to a plea agreement, Stevens had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering violations. Stevens
admitted he and others defrauded Summit’s customers from 1999 through 2008,
misused over $44 million of customer funds, and caused 91 Summit customers to
lose $13.7 million. Stevens’ alleged co-conspirators, CPA Mark A. Neuman,
attorney Lane D. Lyons, and Timothy D. Larkin, are charged with the same
offenses and are expected to go to trial in February 2013.
At Stevens’ sentencing hearing before
Judge Michael Mosman, two of the 91 victims testified about their experience
with Summit and about how the loss of their money affected their lives. One
victim described how she and her husband worked for years to improve their small
cattle ranch so they could sell it and buy their dream ranch; how they
entrusted Summit with the proceeds of the sale, all of which were lost when
Summit declared bankruptcy; and how they have never been able to recover
financially. Another victim described how he and his business partner had
entrusted Summit with the proceeds from the sale of their business
headquarters, and how the loss of those funds stopped their plans to expand
this local small business.
Judge Mosman ordered that Stevens report
to federal prison in early September 2012. Judge Mosman will conduct a
restitution hearing in approximately 90 days to determine how much money he
will order Stevens to repay to Summit’s clients.
Stevens, a certified public accountant
(CPA), acknowledged he and others created Summit to help customers take
advantage of lawful federal income tax deferral transactions. In a typical
transaction, a customer would sell income-producing property, allow Summit to
hold the proceeds of the sale, then buy another income-producing property
within 180 days. Federal income tax laws then allowed the customer to defer
paying taxes on the profits from sale of the first property. Summit eventually
opened affiliate offices in Texas, Washington, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada,
and Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Stevens admitted that through Summit, he
and his co-conspirators promised Summit’s customers their money would be
deposited in a bank, where it would remain for the 180-day period until used to
purchase another income producing property. Stevens acknowledged that from 2004
through October 2008, Summit held between $49 million and $109 million of its
customers’ money in a typical month.
Stevens admitted that contrary to
Summit’s representations to customers, he and his co-conspirators used Summit
customers’ money to invest in over 100 real estate projects and that he and his
co-conspirators had direct personal interests in most of these projects.
Stevens also admitted the conspirators loaned a portion of this money to
individuals, businesses, and themselves.
Stevens admitted he and his
co-conspirators concealed this fraudulent activity in part by creating a
company called Inland Capital Corporation, loaning Summit customer money to
Inland Capital, then causing Inland Capital to loan the money to small
corporations they created to own each real estate investment.
Stevens admitted he and his
co-conspirators further hid the fraud scheme by concealing from most of
Summit’s employees and from most of the owner-operators of Summit’s affiliates
that the conspirators were using Summit customer money to invest in real estate
and to loan to themselves and others. When Summit’s customers and affilate
owner-operators began to express concern about the safety of Summit customer
money, the conspirators used statements in e-mails and other media to convey
the false impression that all Summit customer money was deposited and
maintained in financial institutions.
“The sentencing of Mr. Stevens to four
years in prison should tell every licensed professional there are serious
consequences for misusing client funds,” said U.S. Attorney Marshall.
This case is being investigated by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Investigation Division of the
Internal Revenue Service, the United States Postal Inspectors, and the Oregon
Division of Finance and Corporate Securities. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth D.
Uram and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Cooper, as part of a partnership
venture between the Seattle Region, Social Security Administration, Office of
the General Counsel, and the United States Attorney’s Office in Portland, are
prosecuting the case.
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