Attorney For Charlotte’s Explains IRS Plea Agreement

Prominent El Paso business woman Melissa O’Rourke said “a clerical error that no one profited from” is what has resulted in her company’s plea agreement with the federal government.

Tom stanton, attorney for Charlotte’s Furniture, said none of the employees, including owner, O’Rourke knew what they were doing was wrong.

He said the cash transactions were part of the furniture store’s revolving accounts.

“Charlotte’s didn’t know in 2006 that those cash payments, even though they were divided up for payments on several revolving accounts would need to be reported. They certainly know that today,” Stanton said.

Stanton said if the judge agrees to the plea agreement terms, O’Rourke will admit her company accepted cash transactions and then “restructured” the payments to avoid paying the IRS.

She does not face any charges personally, but her company will owe the government a fine of $250,000 and will be put on probation for five years.

It was in January when the IRS raided the west side furniture store…

They went through receipts, purchase orders and all customer documents.

The IRS found that starting in May 2005 through October 2006, a customer — whose identity was not given– made cash payments to the store of about $631,000.

Charlotte employees would then “structure” the cash amount received.

An example in the plea agreement shows that on May 12th, 2005 a cash payment of $50,000 was divided into 18 consecutively numbered receipts.

All dated the same and under multiple names.

All receipts had an amount less than $10,000.

Stanton says Charlotte employees simply didn’t know they were required to file an 8300 disclosure form with the IRS.

“Charlotte’s and every other company in town need to be aware that there are reporting requirements that apply to these companies and they are being enforced in a way they were never enforced before,” said Stanton.

She is the mother of El Paso City Representative, Beto O’Rourke, and has been active in charitable organizations for decades.

A plea hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday morning.