Politics & Government
Santa Monica Woman Pleads Guilty in Deal With IRS
The owner of a Beverly Hills-based massage therapy business failed to report earnings she deposited directly into personal accounts, according to the IRS.
A Santa Monica woman could spend three years in federal prison for allegedly concealing nearly $170,000 in income from the Internal Revenue Service.
In a deal with prosecutors, Utta Hollingshead, 56, of Santa Monica, pleaded guilty Tuesday morning to one count of subscribing to a false 2005 federal income tax return. She entered her plea before U.S. District Court Judge Manuel L. Real in Los Angeles.
A massage therapist and personal trainer to celebrities, Hollingshead owned . near Wilshire and Santa Monica boulevards in Beverly Hills.
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According to the IRS, between 2005 and 2007, Hollingshead admitted she endorsed checks from business clients directly to her credit card to pay personal expenses, including luxury trips overseas. The clients' checks, along with some cash payments, were never deposited into the Utta Body Sculpture bank account and were not disclosed on Hollingshead’s tax returns, according to the IRS.
In 2005, she reported to the IRS that her business generated $122,595, but a federal investigation uncovered gross receipts of more than $332,000. Hollingshead failed to report business income for 2006 and 2007, causing a total tax loss to the government of nearly $168,000, according to the IRS.
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Hollingshead faces a maximum sentence of 3 years in federal prison and a fine of at least $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 25.
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