The ex-chief information officer for the Screen Actors Guild’s producers pension and health plan is set to be sentenced in March for filing a false tax return, in which he failed to report income he received from contractors hired to upgrade the plan’s computer system.
Nader Karimi, 51, of Los Angeles, faces up to three years in federal prison, with sentencing scheduled for March 11, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In pleading guilty last week to one count of filing a false tax return, Karimi admitted lying on his 2008 federal tax return that failed to report about $450,000 in income.
Over the course of the years 2005 through 2008, Karimi failed to report $711,000 in taxable income, according to his plea agreement.
Karimi was responsible for modernizing the producers pension and health plan’s computer systems, and in that capacity he had the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the plan, prosecutors said.
Over a four-year period, Karimi entered into agreements with vendors that agreed to pay a portion of the money they received from the plan to a company affiliated with Karimi, Enterprise Technology and Management Services, according to the plea document.
Karimi used the $711,000 in payments to his company for personal expenses while not declaring them as income on his tax returns, prosecutors said.
“Individuals entrusted with the pension and health care funds of others must be held to the highest standard of conduct,” said Eileen M. Decker, the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. “The Department of Justice will do everything within its power to bring to justice those who abuse a position of trust for personal gain.”
As part of his plea deal, Karimi has agreed to file amended tax returns, pay back taxes, and make an additional restitution payment of at least $100,000 to the SAG pension and health plan, prosecutors said.
— Wire reports