CAN'T PASS THE BUCK NO MORE

Federal Court Bars Two Los Angeles Residents from Promoting Sham Trust Tax Scheme

Court Finds They Help Customers Form "Common-Law Trusts" to Evade Taxes

A federal court has issued a preliminary injunction barring Gwenn Wycoff and Frank Ozak, both of Los Angeles, from promoting so-called "common-law trusts" that help individuals evade taxes, the Justice Department announced yesterday. The injunction order, entered by U.S. District Judge Jacqueline H. Nguyen of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, will remain in effect while the government's lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction is pending.

In granting the preliminary injunction, the court found that Wycoff and Ozak promote their scheme through personal appearances, a website and a self-published two-volume work they wrote with others called The Art of Passing the Buck, which contains false statements about the internal revenue laws. The court determined that the trusts promoted by Wycoff and Ozak (including one they created for themselves) are shams and have caused substantial harm to the government. The court found that the total amount of tax deficiencies assessed by the government with respect to four customers mentioned in the court order is more than $1.1 million.

The court also ordered Wycoff and Ozak to post a copy of the injunction order on their website and to provide the government with a list of all persons who have purchased their products, services advice or publications in the past five years.

In the past decade, the Justice Department's Tax Division has obtained hundreds of injunctions to stop tax fraud promoters and preparers of false tax returns. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .