An Orange County couple was sentenced last week for owing nearly $2 million from a tax evasion and insurance fraud scheme. Rand Paul Gordon 61, Laguna Hills, and Michele Louise Gordon, 62, Laguna Hills owned and operated moving service companies under the business names Gordon Moving Services Inc., Gordon Moving and Storage Inc., GMS Solutions, and various other names.
in 2006, Rand Gordon obtained an insurance policy for his company with SCIF which was subsequently canceled in 2009 for failure to pay premiums. When he renewed his insurance policy with SCIF he knowingly made false and fraudulent statements by underreporting his payroll to SCIF and failed to pay taxes to the Employment Development Department (EDD).
He also instructed his workers to lie about claims, On Jan. 9, 2008, Rand Gordon told one of his workers to lie about how an injury occurred during a work assignment, while the defendant was driving the victim to a hospital. On Sept. 3, 2009, Rand Gordon dissuaded another worker from filing a workers compensation claim for an injury sustained at work with the intent of keeping his loss history at a minimum to keep the premium on his insurance low. John Doe 2 filed a workers compensation claim.
Rand Robert Gordon pleaded guilty last February to five felony counts of misrepresenting facts to the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), one felony count of filing a false tax return, 10 felony counts of willful failure to file or make fraudulent tax return, two felony counts of making false statements, two felony counts of making false statements to discourage injured worker from claiming benefits, 20 felony counts of failing to file a return with intent to evade tax, 20 felony counts of willful failure to pay tax, and a sentencing enhancement for aggravated white collar crime over $500,000. He was sentenced to one year and four months in state prison. Rand Gordon paid $385,000 in restitution and was ordered to the remaining $2 million dollars by civil judgment.
Michele Louise Gordon, 62, Laguna Hills, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of willful failure to file or make fraudulent tax returns and one felony count of filing a false tax return. She was sentenced to three years formal probation, pay a $5,000 fine, and $464,560 restitution. The defendants paid the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) $123,189.12 toward the restitution and ordered to pay the remaining restitution of $341,370.88 by civil judgment.
Deputy District Attorney Debbie Jackson of the Insurance Fraud Unit prosecuted this case.