Houston flower business owner pleads guilty to filing false tax return after underreporting millions in income
HOUSTON - Houston-based luxury florist Le Hao Tran has pleaded guilty to filing a false federal tax return after admitting she concealed millions of dollars in business income from the Internal Revenue Service, Acting U.S. Attorney John G.E. Marck announced.
Houston florist pleads guilty to false tax return
What we know:
Tran owned and operated Blooming Gallery LLC, a Houston floral business that provided high-end floral services for weddings, corporate events and other upscale gatherings. She also owned HTX Rental and Delivery Service LLC, which supported those operations.
According to court records, Tran failed to report all of the income generated by her businesses during the 2019 through 2022 tax years. Prosecutors said she diverted customer payments by taking checks to check-cashing businesses and, in some cases, deposited checks into bank accounts without recording them in her companies' books and records.
Federal authorities said some of the payments involved substantial sums. In one instance, a corporate client paid Tran more than $2.7 million for floral services provided at a corporate event.
Tran pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return for the 2022 tax year. Prosecutors said she earned more than $9 million in gross income that year but reported only about $7 million, allowing her to pay less in federal taxes than she owed.
In total, Tran admitted her actions caused a tax loss of $1,391,167 to the IRS. She has since paid that amount in restitution.
What's next:
U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks is scheduled to sentence Tran on Sept. 11. She faces a maximum penalty of three years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Tran was permitted to remain free on bond pending sentencing.
The Source: United States Attorney's Office Southern District of Texas news release