United States Attorney Donald J.
Cazayoux, Jr., announced today that Chief U.S. District Judge Brian A. Jackson
sentenced the final two defendants in Operation Zenith, a long running
investigation into fraud and corruption involving the payment and collection of
sales and payroll taxes. The Operation resulted in the convictions of five
prominent businessmen, the president of an accounting firm, and a government
auditor.
ROSTOM H. LAYMON, age 53, of Baton
Rouge, Louisiana, was sentenced to 33 months’ imprisonment, a term of
supervised release following imprisonment of two years, restitution to state
and local governments in the amount of $140,000, and a fine of $70,000. The
sentence stems from LAYMON’s pleas of guilty to two counts of mail fraud and
three counts of bribery based on criminal activity involving his restaurants,
including Arzi’s Express in the Mall of Louisiana, Cajun Café in the Mall of
Louisiana, and Arzi’s Restaurant on Government Street. Because of LAYMON’s
cooperation with the government and acceptance of responsibility, his sentence
was significantly reduced from what it would have otherwise been.
LAYMON’s criminal activity included (1)
defrauding his customers and state and local governments as part of a sales tax
scheme in which the sales from his restaurants were fraudulently under-reported
by millions of dollars, resulting in $140,000 in losses to state and local
governments; (2) paying multiple bribes to individuals he believed to be
officials with the East Baton Rouge Parish Auditor’s Office in connection with
sales tax audits, including offers of prostitutes and foreign travel; and (3)
defrauding the State of Louisiana of payroll tax revenue by fraudulently
under-reporting the amount of wages paid and individuals employed by approximately
fifty-percent, including the concealment of numerous illegal aliens employed in
his restaurants.
JEROME R. SHORE, age 57, of Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, was sentenced to two years’ probation, four months in a half-way
house, and restitution to East Baton Rouge Parish in the amount of $60,000. The
sentence stems from SHORE’s plea of guilty to bribery. While an auditor with
the East Baton Rouge Parish Auditor’s Office, SHORE took a bribe in connection
with an audit of certain restaurants owned by Jamal Roman. As a result of the
bribe, SHORE assessed Roman $60,000 less than he should have. SHORE faced a
significant sentence, but his extensive cooperation with the government and his
acceptance of responsibility resulted in a substantial lessening of his sentence.
Today’s sentences are part of Operation
Zenith, which uncovered evidence that business owners and the president of an
accounting firm had been under-reporting the sales from various businesses by
over ten million dollars ($10,000,000) in order to avoid remitting sales tax to
the state and local governments. In an attempt to conceal this massive scheme,
the business owners and the accountant paid bribes to officials within the East
Baton Rouge Parish Auditor’s Office and agreed to bribe an auditor with the
Louisiana Department of Revenue. The Operation also uncovered systemic
defrauding of the State of Louisiana through the fraudulent underpayment of
payroll taxes.
The status of the five other Operation
Zenith defendants is as follows:
■Humam S. Al-Alousi: Convicted of mail
fraud involving sales tax fraud, bribery involving a federally-funded entity,
and making a false statement to the FBI. He was sentenced to 60 months’
imprisonment, two years’ supervised release, a $100,000 fine, and $220,401 in
restitution.
■Jamal M. Roman: Convicted of conspiracy
to commit mail fraud and bribery, mail fraud, and bribery involving a
federally-funded entity. He was sentenced to 53 months’ imprisonment, two years’
supervised release, a $20,000 fine, and $726,476 in restitution.
■Khoa Dinh Chau: Convicted of mail fraud
involving sales tax fraud and bribery. He was sentenced to 37 months’
imprisonment, two years’ supervised release, a $30,000 fine, and $98,695 in
restitution.
■Mohamed H. Ruman: Convicted of mail
fraud involving payroll tax fraud. He was sentenced to 4 months’ imprisonment,
4 months in a half-way house, two years’ supervised release, and $56,000 in
restitution.
■Hassan S. Abousoayd: Convicted of
bribery and using an interstate facility in aid of racketeering. He was
sentenced to three years’ probation, 8 months home detention, a $20,000 fine,
and $134,000 in restitution. He received a substantially reduced sentence based
on his extensive cooperation with the government, including participation in
covert operations, and acceptance of responsibility.
Operation Zenith is the result of the
combined efforts of the United States Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, and the Louisiana State Police Criminal Intelligence Unit. The
investigation has also been assisted by the East Baton Rouge Parish Auditor’s
Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Louisiana State
University Police Department, the Louisiana Department of Labor, the Louisiana
Department of Revenue, the Ascension Parish Sales and Use Tax Authority, the
Internal Revenue Service, and the Government of Lebanon.
United States Attorney Donald J.
Cazayoux, Jr. stated, “Operation Zenith demonstrates the willingness of this
office and our law enforcement partners to commit the resources necessary to
root out fraud and corruption wherever found. Fraudsters who seek to undermine
the fiscal and moral integrity of our local governments will continue to be
dealt with aggressively.”
FBI Acting Special Agent-in-Charge, Todd
B. Cox, stated, “Today’s sentencings in this matter reflect the commitment of
the FBI and our law enforcement partners to follow fraud and corruption when
anyone chooses to disobey the laws and play by their own rules.”
Operation Zenith was prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorneys Corey R. Amundson, who serves as the Senior
Deputy Criminal Chief, Alan A. Stevens, and Reginald Jones.
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