Husband and wife psychologists sentenced to prison for tax evasion

Two Hawaii psychologists convicted in Honolulu federal court of income tax evasion will go to jail.

David Opollo Ross and Lei Lavarias Ross, who are married to each other, were convicted in February on five charges of tax evasion and one charge of conspiring to evade income taxes from 1998 to 2002.

On Monday, David Opollo Ross was sentenced to 45 months and Lei Lavarias Ross to 18 months in prison.

The couple also must pay more than $250,000 in court costs.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Hawaii Florence T. Nakakuni said that according to the evidence admitted during the trial, the Rosses concealed the receipt of over $1.8 million earned from providing psychology services.

The information produced in court reflected that the Rosses deposited their income into three different businesses they had set up, and they did not file income tax returns to report any of this income.

Source: "Two Hawaii psychologists get jail terms," Pacific Business News, July 13, 2010.