}

Total Pageviews

Thursday, December 15, 2016

STEVEN INGERSOLL SENTENCED TO 41 MONTHS! Disgraced Charter School Management Honcho Headed To Federal Prison In The Next 30 Days.

BREAKING NEWS: Steven Ingersoll, convicted on March 10, 2015 of three counts of tax evasion and conspiracy, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Thomas L. Ludington to 41 months in federal prison. (Ingersoll faced a maximum of 60 months in prison.)

Ingersoll will be required to report within the next 30 days.

In its December 15, 2016 sentencing memorandum, the government stated: 

In general, the four purposes of sentencing are retribution, deterrence, incapacitation, and rehabilitation. In a tax case such as this, the sentencing purposes of retribution and deterrence are especially important. A sentence within the guideline range of 41 to 51 months is necessary to accomplish those purposes. 

“When looking first at the need for retribution, Ingersoll has committed a serious offense, and his sentence should reflect it. His offense was not a one-time lapse in judgement, or a record-keeping mistake with purely civil tax consequences. His criminal tax-loss amount exceeds a million dollars. And he was convicted of tax evasion and fraud with respect to three years of false income tax returns. 

Ingersoll has done nothing to repay the money that he owes. To the contrary, he has continued to violate the tax laws to this day by failing to file any personal income tax return since 2012. 

The profit and loss statement that Ingersoll previously filed with the court shows that from 2012 to 2015, he earned over two million dollars in gross income. The only income tax payment he has made for those tax periods, however, was a $10,000 payment submitted when he applied for an extension to file his 2012 return.

Defendant’s repeated and significant criminal conduct warrants a lengthy sentence.”

Deterence:

“Ingersoll has been indicted and convicted of federal tax charges. He noted that his professional life has been ruined (though he still has income related to his intellectual property) and his name has been “dragged through the mud.” Yet, none of that has deterred him from continuing to violate the tax laws. A substantial sentence within the guidelines is necessary to deter Ingersoll from continued criminal conduct.”

Continuing, the government's sentencing memorandum states: 

“Because of its limited resources, the IRS cannot investigate many of the schemes involving false returns, and many tax-related crimes go unprosecuted. The government seeks a guideline sentence in order to deter other potential tax-cheats, including those like the defendant who believe that tax laws have purely civil—as opposed to criminal—sanctions. A sentence of probation or a custodial sentence below his guidelines (as requested by Ingersoll) would send the wrong message to the public.”

Request for a variance: 

Ingersoll made several non-health related arguments related to his request for a sentencing variance. The government argued that none of his arguments support a variance. (Ingersoll filed health-related arguments under seal.) 

“Ingersoll argues that he merely failed to document shareholder loans, and that the evidence in this case is consistent with the proposition that defendant believed that his intercompany transfers were shareholder loans. This argument is inconsistent with the jury’s verdict finding that the defendant acted willfully. If defendant truly believed that the transfers were shareholder loans, he would not have repeatedly argued to this Court that he was a mere conduit for his businesses and that the transfers to him should have no taxable effect. 

Defendant also claims that his unreported income would have been lower—to the tune of $840,000—if his historical tax credits had been approved and if the federal government had not blocked them.

It appears that Ingersoll is trying to blame the federal government’s denial of historical tax credits for his own income tax violations.

The Department of Interior denied Ingersoll’s request for historical tax credits after it determined that the Bay City Academy renovations did not comply with Department of Interior requirements. 

Even if the credits had been approved, a significant portion of them would be paid to Tim Hunnicutt, the project manager for the renovations at Bay City Academy. Nobody knows what Ingersoll would have done with the remaining credits.” 

Ingersoll also argued that the grand jury would not have indicted this case, had it not been for the allegations of bank fraud and the allegations that he took money from the Grand Traverse Academy.

“Again, Ingersoll appears to be trying to shift the blame for his situation to the government, but with baseless speculation. A grand jury’s job is to determine whether there is probable cause for a criminal charge. In this case, the petit jury convicted Ingersoll of tax violations even after the Court dismissed Count 1, and despite the Court’s evidentiary rulings regarding GTA. It seems highly unlikely that the grand jury would not have indicted when the standard of proof is so much lower for an indictment than what is required for a conviction.” 

Finally, Ingersoll presented the court with numerous sentencing tables to argue that probation or a below-guideline custodial sentence would “avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities.” 

According to the government, the sentencing tables provided very limited information. 

 “They do not reflect offense-specific characteristics, such as acceptance of responsibility, role in the offense, or substantial assistance to the government. The best way to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities in this case is to impose a sentence within the guidelines.” 

The government recommended that Judge Ludington sentence Ingersoll within the guideline range of 41 to 51 months: 

“Defendant does not qualify for a downward departure or variance. His criminal tax-loss amount is substantial—in the range of $550,000 to $1,500,000. Ingersoll played a leadership role in the conspiracy to defraud the government, and he continues to violate the tax laws by not filing income tax returns.”

  




16 comments:

  1. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Months short of what is should have been; but, a nice start. Hope he enjoys every single second of it. 2017, 2018 and 2019 should be a break for charter schools.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Best Xmas present all of us could get, a criminal behind bars soon!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for staying on top of this story and reporting all the criminal activities that extended beyond the tax fraud. Those of us that had to deal with him personally during his arrogant charter school know-it-all attitude, appreciate being kept informed. It would be awesome if the GTA board did their jobs and went after the funds he owes the school - but, all the personal Ingersoll friend's will not do their jobs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Any news on what Bradley was sentenced? When he reports?

    ReplyDelete
  5. The best news, belated birthday present and early Yule present.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve Ingersoll's actions were no mistake on his part, he deliberately funneled money out of the Grand Traverse Academy and brought his model to Bay City to do the same thing. In no way, shape or form was it sloppy bookkeeping. It was deliberate and he should be tried for the money he admitted taking, during his trial, from Grand Traverse Academy. He has never let go of his reign over any of the schools and is still receiving thousands of taxpayer's dollars from the schools. He does not care about anyone that worked at those schools. His major focus was always money in his pockets and for anyone to believe any different, is well ludicrous. As others have said, "Stop drinking the Kool-aid".
    The only thing he is remorseful about is being caught! We have made it a little harder for him to funnel taxpayer's money. But you better understand he is still receiving loads of money from those schools, they are just cooking the books to make it look like he isn't. Respectfully, I write this message, because what matters here is children and teachers. He created his own problems and got caught. It is time to go after the rest of the tax payer's money and get the money back into the public schools where there is oversight. Nothing is ever perfect, but without accountability this is what you get. FOR-PROFIT charter school are not the way our country should be going. It is just a get rich quick off the taxpayers ploy, set up by the 1%.

    I hope the Feds will investigate Noss and Lynch, by no means are they innocent, but remember this, they probably feel like they are being blackmailed by Steve at this point. Time for the feds to follow the real money and open up a case to deal with Grand Traverse Academy's mismanagement of taxpayer's money.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Get this out to Nat'l media in time for the confirmation hearings of Betsy DeVos.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is absolutely wonderful news. However, I feel that it is just the tip of the iceberg on corruption and greed in public education.

    There is no doubt in my mind that Mark Noss and Brian Lynch are continuing their scams. From what I've heard from staff at BCA, IVL is still being used. Therefore, money is still flowing into Ingersoll, Noss, and Lynch's bank accounts.

    All criminals like Ingersoll will lie until the moment they are behind bars. They've lied they're whole life, so much so, that they believe their own lies they've told as truth.

    As a parent, I once believed that Brian Lynch was a good man. But I quickly saw through his lies after I saw how he ran his schools. He treated teachers like garbage and students only meant more money in his pocket.

    Noss and Lynch are just as guilty as Ingersoll.

    They need to go on trial.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It will take Schuette following up on his public corruption promises - and so far, he has been no action on so many levels of school fraud.

      Delete
    2. We all need to seriously remind Mr. Schuette of his promises and start blasting his office with demands for accountability of these charter school fraudsters. It would be especially good if there were some Republican voices demanding justice. There are some Republicans and definitely some independents who could and should write Mr. Schette and the Department of Education and demand scrutiny and justice.

      Delete
    3. Who's stopping you from writing to AG Schuette?

      Delete
  9. I agree with you wholeheartedly, all of these people need to be investigated. We are in for a wild ride if people don't start standing up and talking to the feds. These people will continue to create loopholes and steal taxpayers money and in the end destroy the education of our children. None of these people care about the development of the child, they only care about building personal wealth. If we don't stop these guys, they will eventually destroy education and the future of our nation. Anyone that supports these slugs is a not worth a plug nickle. Stand up and defend your community and your children. Stop helping them! Get your children out of the schools and keep education out of the hands of thugs, criminals and white collar welfare scams. Ingersoll, Noss, Lynch, board presidents, chartering universities are all in on it. But it will never stop if you let the information you have stay hidden. Stand up for the children and your community. If I were a board member, I would be shaking in my boots because you are culpable for what is still going on. Yes, you may be padding your bank account, but you are also a criminal! We all have a tough road ahead of us but if we keep ignoring these criminals and don't do anything about this, then we are part of it. It is us that can make the difference call your public school get your kids out of these schools. Let's get this mess cleaned up before it destroys our children and their future. No excuses, just do it. Make the change you will be so happy in the end. You can make a difference, one child at a time. Stop their taxpayer's money flow.

    ReplyDelete
  10. People that think Steve has relinquished his grasp on BCA and GTA are complete idiots. Stop being a fool and understand what is really happening to education in Michigan. It isn't just about one school it is the future of all schools and what these people are doing to education as a whole. And if you don't realize they are going to keep screwing the taxpayers and pocket the money well then you are not living in the real world.

    ReplyDelete
  11. You're a complete joke, passing yourself off as some kind of female Sherlock Holmes. Instead of slandering, denigrating and destroying lives, why don't you put your 'investigative' (cough) skills to work, looking for missing persons instead. Your life will then have some REAL value and redemption!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pretty ballsy from someone speaking from beyond the cloak of anonymity!

      Once again, "slander" is spoken and "libel" is written--not that I've committed either one. I mean, if I'd made libelous statements, I would have been sued.

      Right?

      As for my varied and rich skills, I'll use them any damn way I want...like following the money, honey!

      Now go and pack your bag and get ready for the next 41 months.

      Here's a link to a U. S. Department of Justice/Bureau of Prisons brochure that may help you get ready: https://www.bop.gov/policy/progstat/5580_008.pdf

      Delete
  12. The people out there that hurt people's lives with lies and cooking the books are the Ingersoll's and his gang(which includes Mark Noss, Brian Lynch and many more). They are the ones that are taking taxpayers money and short changing children, parents and teachers. Really you know the facts and she is just reporting them. The fact that you are still trying to hide behind your lies, so you can keep the money flowing from these schools, is a tragedy. And if there is anyone out there that doesn't realize the truth about your cheap shot deals in education, we'll they are either naive, blind, misguided or just don't want truth to prevail.

    ReplyDelete