18 Months Added to Ex-Fugitive’s Sentence

A federal judge sentenced a Tarzana man to 18 months in prison Thursday for his failure to report to U.S. marshals after a tax-fraud conviction in 1988, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. rejected Peter M. Sharma’s pleas for leniency and added the prison time to a five-year sentence Sharma began serving last year after he was arrested at his residence, Assistant U.S. Atty. Lisa Feldman said.

Sharma, 61, who was a fugitive for seven years, was using the alias Peter Reynolds when arrested in May 1996.

In March, he pleaded guilty to the fugitive charge.

In 1985, Sharma was arrested on charges of misappropriating investors’ funds, laundering them through his accounts at a Beverly Hills brokerage firm and providing his victims with counterfeit monthly commodities statements that were used to prepare income-tax returns, costing taxpayers more than $1 million, federal authorities said.

Sharma was arrested after a high-speed chase in Westlake Village. While free on bond, Sharma fled to southern France and failed to appear for trial.

Feldman said Sharma later returned to the United States using the alias Joseph Descent and was arrested in Scottsdale, Ariz., in July 1988. He pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to five counts of tax fraud and was sentenced to five years in prison.

Sharma failed to surrender to authorities in February 1989 and remained a fugitive until his arrest in 1996.