Current:Home > MyYoga business founder pleads guilty to tax charge in New York City-InfoLens
Yoga business founder pleads guilty to tax charge in New York City
View Date:2024-12-23 20:52:43
NEW YORK (AP) — An international yoga business founder whose chain of yoga studios promoted themselves as “Yoga to the People” pleaded guilty on Friday to a tax charge in a New York federal court.
Gregory Gumucio, 63, of Colorado, apologized as he admitted not paying over $2.5 million in taxes from 2012 to 2020. He was freed on bail to await a Jan. 16 sentencing by Judge John P. Cronan, who questioned Gumucio during the plea proceeding.
A plea agreement Gumucio reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive a sentence of about five years in prison, the maximum amount of time he could face after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
Two other defendants are awaiting trial in the case.
Gumucio’s business, which generated over $20 million in revenue, had operated in about 20 locations in the United States, including in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California; Tempe, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; and cities in Colorado and Washington. It also operated in studios in Spain and Israel and was seeking to expand to other countries when it closed four years ago.
When Gumucio was arrested two years ago, a prosecutor said he was the living in Cathlamet, Washington, and had been arrested 15 times and had in the past used at least six aliases, three Social Security numbers and claimed three places of birth.
He was eventually freed on $250,000 bail by a magistrate judge who noted that his last previous arrest was in 1992.
In court on Friday, Gumucio acknowledged that he had agreed to pay $2.56 million in restitution, along with interest, to the IRS.
He said he didn’t pay the taxes from 2012 to 2020.
“I apologize for that,” he told Cronan, saying he operated yoga studios in Manhattan’s East Village and elsewhere in the United States during those years.
Under questioning from the judge, Gumucio said yoga teachers were paid in cash, and he didn’t provide them tax forms indicating how much revenue had been taken in.
“I deliberately did not file tax returns to avoid paying taxes,” he said.
He said he was currently living in Colorado, though he did not specify where.
As he left the courthouse, Gumucio kept his head bowed once he realized he was being photographed. He declined to comment.
veryGood! (5243)
Related
- 'Serial swatter': 18-year-old pleads guilty to making nearly 400 bomb threats, mass shooting calls
- Swiss indict a former employee of trading firm Gunvor over bribes paid in Republic of Congo
- Temple University chancellor to take over leadership amid search for new president
- Police are investigating if unprescribed drugs factored into death of ex-NFL player Mike Williams
- Michael Grimm, former House member convicted of tax fraud, is paralyzed in fall from horse
- Flood-hit central Greece braces for new storm as military crews help bolster flood defenses
- Cuba’s ambassador to the US says Molotov cocktails thrown at Cuban embassy were a ‘terrorist attack’
- Chinese gymnast Zhang Boheng wins men’s all-around at the Asian Games. The Paris Olympics are next
- Denver district attorney is investigating the leak of voting passwords in Colorado
- European court rules Turkish teacher’s rights were violated by conviction based on phone app use
Ranking
- Wicked's Ethan Slater Shares How Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Set the Tone on Set
- Delaware trooper facing felony charges involving assaults on teens after doorbell prank at his house
- Amid Zach Wilson struggles, Jets set to sign veteran QB Trevor Siemian, per report
- North Carolina splits insurance commissioner’s job from state fire marshal’s responsibilities
- Louisiana mom arrested for making false kidnapping report after 'disagreement' with son
- Families of those killed by fentanyl gather at DEA as US undergoes deadliest overdose crisis
- Smooth as Tennessee whiskey: Jack Daniel's releases rare new single malt. How to get it.
- Film academy gifts a replacement of Hattie McDaniel’s historic Oscar to Howard University
Recommendation
-
The 15 quickest pickup trucks MotorTrend has ever tested
-
Cuba denounces attack on its U.S. embassy as terrorism
-
Writers will return to work on Wednesday, after union leadership votes to end strike
-
Bachelor Nation's Becca Kufrin and Thomas Jacobs Share Baby Boy's Name and First Photo
-
25 monkeys caught but more still missing after escape from research facility in SC
-
Canadian fashion mogul lured women and girls to bedroom suite at his Toronto HQ, prosecution alleges
-
Texas law that restricted drag shows declared unconstitutional
-
RHOSLC's Monica Garcia Claps Back at Lisa Barlow's $60,000 Ring Dig