Man Pleads Guilty in Tax Fraud, Scholarships Scam
LOS ANGELES — A 66-year-old man accused in a scheme to enable people to write off the cost of sending their children to private schools pleaded guilty to federal tax fraud charges Monday.
Richard C. Dryer ran the Owl Foundation, which enjoyed tax-exempt status by falsely claiming to provide grants and scholarships to needy and foreign students, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Paul Stern.
He was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport in November on his return from South Africa, Stern said. Dryer faces up to nine years in prison and $750,000 in fines when he is sentenced May 2.
Typically, the parents of high school- and college-age children would give Dryer the amount of their child’s tuition plus 15%, which was supposed to go for scholarships. The Owl Foundation paid the tuition, “but there was no scholarships for needy children, that I know of,” Stern said.
Those who “donated” to the foundation got more than $1 million in tax deductions in 1986 alone, Stern said.
None of the parents were charged.
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