Auto Palace sales tax fraud

From the Queens Courier:

A year-long investigation brought the wheeling and dealing of a criminal couple’s auto shop scheme to a screeching halt.

Hooshmand “Danny” Kohanano, 54, and his wife, Fereshteh “Jenny” Kohanano, 41, were charged with $730,000 worth of sales tax fraud in connection with their operation of the Auto Palace, Inc., a used car dealership at 53-21 Northern Boulevard in Woodside.

A Queens County grand jury also returned an indictment charging the dealership’s former finance manager, Julio Estrada, 37 — aka Jay Torres — with defrauding 23 car buyers out of a total of more than $115,000 in cash through a sham refinancing scheme.

“The defendants are accused of serious tax fraud allegations and other charges that, if proven true, could result in considerable time behind bars,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Tax fraud is the type of crime that makes every New Yorker a victim by cheating the government and the public out of money that is especially needed during this continuing economic downturn.”

According to the criminal complaint, between September 1, 2006, and November 30, 2009, the Hooshmands and Auto Palace, Inc. allegedly swiped more than $728,844 in state and local sales taxes collected from buyers but not handed over to the State Department of Taxation and Finance as authorized.