United States Attorney's Office
Southern District of Florida
March 19, 2015
Miami Resident Sentenced for Filing False Tax Returns and Failure to File a Tax Return
A Miami resident was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and was ordered to pay restitution of $196,645 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), and Robert C. Erickson, Deputy Inspector General, General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General (GSA-OIG), made the announcement.
Danilo Santos, 52, previously pled guilty to three counts of filing a false federal income tax return and one count of failure to file a federal income tax return.
According to court documents, in 2009 and 2010, Santos was president and 100% shareholder of Santos Auction USA, Inc. Santos falsely represented to the public that he was associated with the General Services Administration and that he could arrange to sell government seized properties, including boats and automobiles, at bargain prices, prior to the items being offered for auction. An investigation by the General Services Administration Office of the Inspector General revealed that in 2009 and 2010, Santos defrauded a number of his clients by representing to them that he was buying government seized properties for them and then failing to deliver the properties or return the funds that Santos received from the clients. Subsequent prosecution of Santos by the State of Florida resulted in his paying court-ordered restitution to some of these clients.
Court documents state that IRS reviewed Santos’ personal and business bank accounts, interviewed individuals who paid Santos to purchase properties for them, and examined the tax returns filed by Santos. Santos filed false individual and corporate income tax returns for calendar year 2009, and filed a false individual income tax return for calendar year 2010. Santos failed to file a corporate income tax return for calendar year 2010.
Mr. Ferrer commended the outstanding investigative efforts of IRS-CI and GSA-OIG. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Lehner.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
