Benzer, accused in HOA scheme, indicted on tax evasion charges
The accused mastermind of a massive scheme to take over homeowners associations was indicted by a Las Vegas federal grand jury Tuesday on charges of evading roughly $1.2 million in personal and company taxes.
Leon Benzer, 46, a former construction company boss, is facing two counts of tax evasion and is being summoned to make an initial appearance on the charges later this month.
He is accused of not paying the Internal Revenue Service $459,204 in personal taxes owed between 2001 and 2005, as well as $705,982 in employment and unemployment taxes between 2003 and 2004.
The charges relate directly to Benzer’s alleged leading role in the scheme to take over 11 homeowners associations across the valley between 2003 and 2009.
Benzer used some of the $7.2 million in construction defect funds his company, Silver Lining Construction, received from the Vistana homeowners association for his personal use, the indictment alleges.
He is accused of filing false financial forms with the IRS to conceal money and assets.
Benzer and 10 others were indicted in January in the Justice Department’s final push to charge conspirators in the homeowners association corruption scheme. They are to stand trial March 3.
A total of 29 defendants have been convicted since the investigation became public in September 2008 with a joint FBI-Las Vegas police raid across the valley. Most of the defendants are cooperating.
Prosecutors with the Justice Department’s Fraud Section in Washington have revealed a vast conspiracy to swindle the 11 homeowners associations out of millions of dollars.
Prosecutors have alleged in court documents that Benzer and the late construction defects lawyer Nancy Quon pulled the strings in the scheme.
Quon committed suicide in March 2012 under the weight of the sweeping investigation. She was not charged at the time.
Benzer and Quon, 51, funneled more than $8 million through secret bank accounts to help them land lucrative legal and construction contracts from the homeowners associations, prosecutors alleged.
Benzer is accused of recruiting straw buyers, employing real estate agents to find them condominiums, and secretly paying their mortgages.
Lawyers, community management company employees, private investigators and former cops were among those enlisted to stack association boards, prosecutors have alleged.
Getting straw buyers elected to the association boards was the key to the scheme, because Benzer and Quon needed votes to steer the business their way, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors are seeking nearly $25 million in restitution in the criminal case.
The tax case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation in Las Vegas and spearheaded by Charles La Bella, a deputy chief of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section.
Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow@JGermanRJ on Twitter
