Deer Park business owner sentenced to prison for tax evasion, money laundering

For at least four years, John Franklin Brock tried to evade taxes for the several companies he operated out of a storefront in Deer Park, officials said.

Three of the companies were involved in cell tower construction and decommissioning, and officials say Brock operated them interchangeably. He didn’t file corporate tax returns for two of them, and with the third company, he reported minimal or no income.

In 2016, according to court documents, Brock reported $2 in taxable income for Wolverine Wireless Inc. The next year, he reported $0.

But when Brock applied for a small business loan, he submitted tax returns that showed net income of more than $1 million in 2016 and more than $420,000 in 2017.

Brock was sentenced Monday in federal court in Cincinnati to one year in prison. He also was ordered to pay a $40,000 fine. The sentencing took place more than a year after he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and money laundering charges. His plea hearing took place in July 2022.

Brock won’t begin serving his sentence immediately. Court records show that U.S. District Judge Douglas Cole delayed Brock's designation to a federal prison until after Jan. 31, 2024.

Brock also operated a prison inmate communications company as well as a one that performed money transmissions for the inmate communications business. Officials say he laundered money through the money transfer company.

According to a news release from IRS Criminal Investigation, Brock applied for a money transmission terminal from MoneyGram using an alias and falsely listing himself as the landlord. He also falsely claimed that the business bought fish and would provide money transmission services to “fishermen.”

Brock never disclosed that the transfers were originated by inmates. Had he disclosed that, the news release said, MoneyGram would not have licensed its terminal to him.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Business owner sentenced to prison, fined for tax evasion