Falsified tax returns fuel Pflueger’s suit against accountant

Second-generation car dealer Alan Pflue­ger is suing the Los Angeles accountant who prepared his false income tax returns for 2003-2005.

Pflueger, whose full name is Charles Alan Pflue­ger, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Friday against Dennis Lawrence Duban.

He pleaded guilty in federal court in May 2012 to filing a false tax return for 2005 by not claiming as income personal expenses that his car dealership, Pflue­ger Inc., and its subsidiaries paid on his behalf. The return listed a total income of $695,724.

Pflueger Inc. Chief Financial Officer Randall Ken Kurata pleaded guilty that same day to filing a false corporate tax return for 2003 for listing as deductions money the company paid for Pflue­ger’s personal expenses.

Duban pleaded guilty last October to aiding and assisting Pflue­ger in filing a false 2004 tax return that failed to claim as income money the dealership paid for Pflue­ger’s personal expenses.

Pflueger is scheduled to be sentenced in October. For sentencing purposes, U.S. District Judge Leslie E. Koba­ya­shi determined that Pflue­ger’s false tax returns resulted him underreporting his income by $355,608 in 2003, $640,484 in 2004 and $654,878 in 2005.

Pflueger says in his lawsuit that since 2001 Duban provided him; other members of his family, including his father, James Pflue­ger;and his businesses tax advice, planning and federal tax preparation, including preparation of his personal income tax returns.

Alan Pflueger claims that Duban, who is a certified public accountant, was not a tax expert and thus was not qualified to prepare his personal income tax returns because of the complexity of the tax laws and the numerous businesses in which he was involved. As a result, Pflue­ger says he was required to pay additional federal taxes for 2003-2006 plus significant penalties and interest. He said he also anticipates having to pay additional Hawaii state taxes for the same period.

Duban was the key prosecution witness in the March trial of James Pflue­ger on conspiracy and tax evasion charges. He was accused of failing to list as income money the car dealership paid for his personal expenses and for falsifying documents to avoid paying taxes on money he pocketed from the sale of a piece of commercial property in San Diego. Duban testified he prepared Pflue­ger’s tax returns and falsified sale documents on Pflue­ger’s behalf.

Following a nine-day, nonjury trial, Koba­ya­shi found Pflue­ger not guilty on all counts. However, she later determined that Pflue­ger’s tax returns for 2003-2006 underreported his income by $593,839.