Brentwood Company Owners Charged with Avoiding $2 Million in Taxes
They used fake invoices to avoid taxes on cigarettes bought in Kentucky.
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The owners of a Brentwood cigarettte distribution company, GT Northeast of St. Louis, at 1003 Hanley Industrial Court, were charged on Thursday with avoiding paying taxes on millions of dollars of cigarettes bought outside Missouri.
A federal grand jury in Louisville, KY, charged Caridad Bello and her husband, Juan Hernandez, both of St. Louis, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering in an effort to avoid paying $2 million in taxes to Kentucky, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.
The report states the owners of the Brentwood company bought cigarettes in Kentucky but used invoices from GT Northeast, in Brentwood, to avoid paying Kentucky sales tax. The cigarettes were then sold across the country.
