Guilty plea in $900,000 scam to cheat the IRS

Star Tribune

Last update: November 10, 2009 - 11:32 PM

A 38-year-old Chaska woman admitted Tuesday to preventing the IRS from collecting more than $900,000 in employment taxes from her ex-husband's mortgage brokerage company.

In pleading guilty in federal court in St. Paul, Shelley Lee Milless acknowledged that she schemed with her then-husband, Timothy Lynn Beliveau, 41, of Mound, to shield from the IRS $901,985.94 in income tax, Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax and Medicare tax collected from employees of American Alliance Mortgage Group. The conspiracy ran from October 2002 to September 2005.

Milless incorporated a shell company, American Alliance Mortgage Realty & Title, to which the assets of Alliance Mortgage Group were transferred to hinder the IRS from collecting taxes.

Sentencing for Milless hasn't been scheduled.

Beliveau, her former husband, was indicted last month on 12 counts, including mail fraud and willful failure to account for and pay taxes.

The indictment says Beliveau raised more than $1 million from real-estate investors that he then used to pay personal expenses.

The government says Beliveau preyed on people facing foreclosure by promising to sell their home to investors who would let them remain in the house and repurchase it on a contract for deed while they worked to restore their credit.

PAUL WALSH