Louisburg realtor charged with tax evasion and wire fraud
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (KCTV) - A Miami County realtor has been charged with financial crimes the U.S. Department of Justice claim date back to 2008.
An indictment from a federal grand jury filed Wednesday charged Michelle O’Connor, of Louisburg, with tax evasion and wire fraud. O’Connor owned and operated a realty company based in the Kansas City metro area.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, O’Connor filed federal income tax returns, self-reporting that she owed $300,000 in taxes. Despite acknowledging what she owed, she never paid them, according to federal court documents.
In 2011, the IRS audited her tax returns from 2008 and 2009 and determined she’d improperly claimed tens of thousands of dollars in personal expenses she’d labeled charitable deductions to the “Church of Revelation and Love.” Court documents say that the purported church was made by her and her husband and they were its primary members.
That same year, the IRS began trying to collect the outstanding taxes from O’Connor and sent her 50 notices regarding them. In a span from 2011 until 2023, O’Connor attempted to stop those collection efforts from the IRS by filing three fraudulent bankruptcy petitions, purchasing approximately $250,000 of cashier’s checks to reduce her bank account balances, and closing her personal bank accounts and using her businesses’ bank accounts for personal expenses.
By 2020, the IRS said O’Connor owed nearly $500,000 in taxes, penalties and interest. In that year, the Louisburg woman submitted 34 fraudulent COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan applications on behalf of her real estate business and seven other corporate entities.
In total, she collected nearly $300,000 from her fraudulent EIDLs, including $115,000 she used to purchase cryptocurrency.
If convicted, O’Connor faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud.
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