A federal grand jury indicted Dion Earl, the former owner of a Kent-based indoor soccer team, for a massive tax fraud scheme.
Earl, 46, currently jailed on sexual assault charges in Arizona, allegedly used false documents between 2008 and 2014 to lie about his income, the amount of tax dollars withheld by employers and his mortgage deductions, so that he could claim tax refunds of more than $1.1 million. Because Earl faces sexual assault charges in Arizona, his arraignment on the indictment has not been scheduled, according to a Thursday news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
During the course of the scheme, Earl purchased the Seattle Impact FC franchise, a Major Arena Soccer League team that played at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
In the 1990s Earl was a soccer star at Seattle Pacific University. According to the indictment, between 2008 and 2014 Earl claimed to be making huge salaries working for car dealers in the Puget Sound region, and as the owner/operator of Dion Earl’s Total Soccer & Tennis Camps. For example, the indictment alleges that in 2012, Earl claimed on his 2011 Form 1040 tax return that he made $880,000 working for five car dealers.
Earl claimed the dealers withheld more than $330,000 of his wages for taxes. He then falsely claimed mortgage interest payments on four properties, reducing his ‘tax liability.’ With the scheme, Earl obtained a tax refund of $329,198. In fact, Earl made less than $80,000 that year, had no tax payments withheld and paid limited mortgage interest, according to the news release.
The indictment further alleges that even after the IRS began a civil audit on Earl, he continued to make false claims and provided false information to the IRS. As late as 2015, Earl claimed he and his wife made $765,000 from his soccer and tennis camps and the Seattle Impact FC. Earl claimed $180,000 was withheld and attempted to get a tax refund of $137,554. That refund was not paid. In all Earl reportedly sought $1.6 million in fraudulent tax refunds, and was paid approximately $1.1 million.
Earl is also charged in connection with false income information he submitted to Key Bank in 2008 to qualify for a home equity line of credit.
The five-count indictment charges Earl with three counts of false statement on tax returns, corrupt endeavor to impede administration of the Internal Revenue laws and false statement on a loan application.
If convicted, Earl faces up to 10 years in prison.
The case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation unit and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arlen Storm.
In 2014, Earl, owner, coach and player for the Seattle Impact FC, came under fire from players and dance team members. He faced several legal battles. Ex-employees, in a lawsuit, accused him of having sexually assaulted two women on the dance team. The scathing lawsuit referred to Earl’s conduct as owner of the Impact as “despicable” and called him a “tyrant,” according to court documents.
A massive, 22-player walkout followed in November 2014.
In January 2015, the Tacoma Stars replaced the Impact in the pro league when Lane Smith bought the rights to the team. Earl later moved from Kent to Arizona.
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