HONOLULU -- United States District Judge Derrick K. Watson yesterday sentenced Calvin Kim, 55, and Chun Cha Kim, 64, husband and wife to 36 and 12 months in prison, respectively, for violations of federal tax laws. Calvin Kim pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by dishonest and deceitful means for the purpose of impeding, impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the IRS in the assessment and collection of federal income taxes, while Chun Cha Kim pleaded guilty to willfully failing to pay taxes for the years 1999-2012.
Florence T. Nakakuni, United States Attorney for the District of Hawaii, said that Judge Watson also ordered Calvin Kim and Chun Cha Kim to pay restitution in the amounts of $1,969,463 and $1,937,267, respectively, which represent all back taxes and penalties. Criminal fines of $250,000 and $100,000 were also imposed on Calvin Kim and Chun Cha Kim, respectively. In addition, both defendants agreed to the imposition of a fraud assessment by the IRS, which may amount to an additional civil penalty of $3 million. According to information produced to the court, the Kims already have paid more than $4 million in back taxes and interest.
According to documents filed with the court, Mr. and Mrs. Kim operated two companies which sold heating pads and other products. In October 2000, they became followers of so-called "tax protestors" and decided not to file a valid tax return from then till May 2014. The court documents reflect that from 2005 to 2012 alone, the tax returns of the Kims’ businesses, of which they were then the sole shareholders, showed payments ranging from $418,238 to $971,983 for Calvin Kim for each year, and $271,564 to $1,000,562 for Chun Cha Kim, resulting in taxes owed for each of those years ranging from $133,009 to $325,375 for him and $83,828 to $335,378 for her.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. The prosecution has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Silverberg.