U.S. Pays O.C. Military Contractor Millions, But He Forgets to Tell the IRS

Originally posted at 4:40 p.m. May 6, 2014. Edited to fix a typo.

A Huntington Beach man who admitted failing to report millions of dollars his company received for providing services to the military in Iraq faces up to 10 years in federal prison, prosecutors said today.

Nadim "Nick" Saifan Jr., 48, entered an guilty plea Monday before U.S. District Judge Cormac Carney.

The plea is considered open, meaning there's no guarantee on his punishment, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Sagel said. Federal sentencing guidelines are for six to nine years behind bars, with a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Carney, over the objections of the defendant's attorneys, ordered Saifan, who had been free on $200,000 bail, to be jailed until his Aug. 18 sentencing, Sagel said.

Saifan pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted tax evasion, leaving open three more counts, Sagel said. The remaining counts likely will be dismissed at sentencing, Sagel said.

Saifan owned and operated Defense Logistical Support & Services Corp., which provided military and civilian services in Iraq. The company received nearly $16 million from the U.S. military from August 2004 through October 2007, but Saifan reported only a fraction of that income on the company's tax returns, according to prosecutors.

Saifan spent company money on himself and failed to report it as personal income, prosecutors said. They also allege he used the company money to make about $880,000 in down payments on real estate and spent about $292,000 on vehicles such as a Ferrari and Rolls Royce.

The loss to the federal government was at least $7 million, according to prosecutors. He owes at least $4.5 million in unpaid corporate and personal taxes.

It is unclear how much Saifan, who is being represented by public defenders, can repay.

--City News Service