Case # 15CF1118
Date: May 28, 2015
USED CAR DEALERSHIP PRESIDENT TO BE ARRAIGNED FOR FILING FRAUDULENT TAX RETURNS AND FAILING TO PAY MORE THAN $1.3 MILLION IN SALES TAXES
SANTA ANA – A used car dealership president is scheduled to be arraigned today for filing fraudulent tax returns and failing to pay more than $1.3 million in sales taxes. John Joseph Paradise, 53, San Clemente, is charged with six felony counts of making a false and fraudulent return over $25,000 tax liability with sentencing enhancement allegations for property damage over $1.3 million and aggravated white collar crime over $500,000. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 14 years and four months in state prison. The People will be requesting that he be held on $1.3 million bail and prove the money is from a legal and legitimate source before posting bond. He is scheduled to be arraigned today, May 28, 2015, at 11:30 a.m. in Department CJ-1, Central Jail, Santa Ana.
Between Jan. 1, 2009, and Sept. 30, 2014, Paradise is accused of being the president and corporate officer of Paradise Automotive Group, Inc. (PAG), selling used luxury vehicles.
Paradise is accused of being the signatory of PAG and preparing the business’s sales tax returns. The defendant is accused of submitting fraudulent sales tax returns to the State Board of Equalization (BOE).
The BOE investigated this case after a discrepancy in the sales figures and sales taxes collected by Paradise and reported to the California Department of Motor Vehicles was substantially higher than the sales taxes the defendant is accused of reporting and paying to the BOE.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Marc Labreche of the Major Fraud Unit is prosecuting this case.