Former President of St. Charles Company Sentenced to 70 Months in Federal Prison for Wire Fraud and Income Tax Evasion
ROCKFORD — The former President of Baytree Investors Inc., a defunct St. Charles company, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Frederick J. Kapala.
CHRISTOPHER A. JANSEN, 64, of St. Charles, was sentenced to 70 months in federal prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $269,978 in restitution. Jansen pleaded guilty on Oct. 14, 2008, to charges of wire fraud and evading income taxes.
According to the written plea agreement, Jansen was President of Baytree Investors Inc., an Illinois corporation engaged in acquiring trucking companies. In 2001 Jansen learned DFC Transportation, a trucking company headquartered in Huntley, was for sale. Jansen admitted in his plea agreement that he created a Delaware corporation, DFCTC Holding Inc., and arranged for DFCTC to purchase DFC with money Jansen would borrow using DFC receivables as collateral. Jansen further admitted that he arranged for other individuals to be the owners of DFCTC, some of whom were previous investors in Baytree business acquisitions that had failed. Jansen also admitted that he represented to others that he was the corporate secretary and controlled both DFCTC and DFC, without appointment or authority, and avoided having shareholder or director meetings.
After its purchase, Jansen arranged for DFC to use its receivables to borrow more money from a bank, and without authorization ordered employees to transfer money from DFC to DFCTC. Jansen admitted he then distributed the money to himself and others for their personal use and benefit without disclosing it to the shareholders and directors. Specifically, on March 22, 2002, Jansen ordered the transfer of $250,000 by wire from a DFC account in Utah to a DFCTC account in St. Charles, for his own personal benefit and the benefit of others, without disclosing it to the shareholders or directors of either corporation.
In pleading guilty, Jansen further admitted that he attempted to evade income tax for the year 2002 that he owed to the United States. Specifically, Jansen admitted he failed to file a federal income tax return for that year, knowing federal income taxes would be calculated and due. Jansen also admitted he used a bank account in the name of a dissolved corporation, Talcott Financial Corporation, to receive his income and disburse his expenditures and intentionally failed to have Talcott file informational forms with the IRS for taxable income distributed to him from the account. Jansen also admitted in the plea agreement that he controlled Baytree and DFCTC and intentionally failed to have those corporations file informational forms with the IRS, such as Form 1099, regarding distributions of taxable income to him. Further, Jansen admitted he did not have a bank account in his name in order to avoid easy tracing of his income and avoid reporting to the IRS.
The sentencing was announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; James D. Robnett, Special Agent-In-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division; Michael J. Anderson, Special Agent-In-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and Jeffrey A. Monhart, Regional Director of the Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration.
The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael D. Love.
