The former owner of a Salinas agricultural equipment firm has pleaded guilty to a $221,000 tax evasion, admitting he diverted company money to pay for Victoria's Secret purchases, a tae bo class and a trip to Legoland.
Curtis Leigh Parry, 66, entered the plea in federal court in San Jose, the U.S. attorney and IRS announced. Parry, who was indicted in 2007, will be sentenced May 13.
In his plea agreement, Parry admitted he diverted money from his company, Salinas Valley Engineering & Manufacturing, Inc., through various schemes. Parry owned the company from 1977 to 2003 and was its sole owner.
Parry had customers pay him directly for work or materials, then deposited the money into his personal account, authorities said, without reporting it as income.
Parry admitted he wrote corporate checks to himself and deposited the money in his own account, falsely telling his bookkeeper that they were reimbursements for business expenses.
Parry used an American Express corporate credit card for personal purchases for himself and his family, the U.S. attorney and IRS said.
Parry admitted that starting in June 1999, he began sending money to Nigeria. Between 1999 and 2002, he wired more than $300,000 in diverted corporate funds overseas, authorities said. Parry conducted many of the transfers in structured transactions in amounts less than $10,000.
Parry pleaded guilty to three counts of tax evasion and three counts of filing a false corporate tax