By the time the Internal Revenue Service caught up with Windward Oahu plumber and real estate agent Francis E. Chandler III, all he had left in his bank account was about $900,000.
That was eight weeks after he had received a nearly $4 million tax refund.
At Chandler’s sentencing Monday for filing a false claim with the government, U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway asked Chandler’s lawyer, "Where’s the rest of the money?"
Defense lawyer Lynn Panagakos told Mollway that 10 percent went to a woman who instructed Chandler and others how to file false claims, another 10 percent went to Chandler’s church as tithe, $350,000 went for repairs to one of Chandler’s investment properties, $700,000 was lost in failed investments and the rest went to family members as loans.
Chandler pleaded guilty to filing a false claim and filing false retaliatory liens against federal judges and federal prosecutors assigned to his case. Chandler filed false documents in the Bureau of Conveyances saying the officials owed him money.
Mollway sentenced him to 37 months in prison for both charges. She also ordered Chandler to repay the government the $3,066,629 the IRS was unable to recover. Mollway was not one of the judges against whom Chandler filed a false lien.
Chandler told Mollway, "I just got associated with the wrong crowd and I did some things I would not condone my own children to do."
Mollway rejected Chandler’s explanation for his actions.
"You got $3 million of the government’s money," she said. "You’re not the victim here."
Chandler could have gotten a longer prison term if Mollway had not granted the government’s request for a sentencing break for Chandler’s cooperation in prosecuting the woman to whom he paid 10 percent of his refund.
Another federal judge sentenced Sherilyn K. Wahinekapu to 42 months in prison two weeks ago for filing a false income tax claim for a refund and helping others file false claims. The judge also ordered Wahinekapu to repay the government $3,107,570.
