Man sentenced for tax evasion

Andrew Park, an owner and executive of Asian Village Detroit Inc. (“Asian Village”), Pangborn Technovations Inc. (PTI), and the Security Communication Alert Network (SCAN), was sentenced today to one year in prison based on his felony conviction for evading the payment of more than $300,000 in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade announced today.
Ms. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Special Agent in Charge Erick Martinez of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and Special Agent in Charge Robert Foley, III of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
During a hearing this afternoon before United States District Judge Patrick J. Duggan, the court sentenced Park to 12 months in prison and two years of supervised release based on Park’s December 17, 2010 guilty plea to tax evasion for his failure to report and pay taxes on $898,000 in income that Park earned in connection with Asian Village, SCAN, and PTI during the years 2005 through 2007. The court also ordered Park to pay the IRS $301,000 in taxes owed and to pay the significant civil penalties and interest owed the IRS for the evasion.
Although Park had been facing a sentence of two years to two and one-half years in prison under the terms of his plea agreement, the court reduced Park’s sentence to one year in prison based on the government’s motion for a downward departure as a result of Park’s cooperation in the prosecution of former Detroit city official Derrick Miller. Park had paid bribes to Miller in order to get a city contract for SCAN relating to homeland security worth more than $4 million. In addition, Park paid a bribe to Miller, which was shared with former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in order to secure a favorable vote by the Board of Trustees on a $2.75 million loan from Detroit’s General Retirement System for the Asian Village restaurant. Subsequently, the pension fund lost all $2.75 million of the money loaned to Asian Village, and the city received nothing for the money paid to SCAN on the homeland security contract.
The case was investigated by special agents of the IRS, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security-Office of Inspector General. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Robert Cares and David A. Gardey.