Bakersfield pain management doctor sentenced to prison for tax evasion

 

Date: April 24, 2023

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Janardhan Grandhe, of Bakersfield, was sentenced to one year and one day of prison today for tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Grandhe was a pain management doctor in Bakersfield, doing business as Central Valley Pain Management (CVPM). In 2017, 2018 and 2019, Grandhe willfully filed false tax returns for CVPM with overstated expenses and false individual tax returns for himself that omitted gross receipts he received. In total, Grandhe evaded personal tax liability exceeding $300,000.

Between 2017 and 2019, Grandhe provided checks to employees claiming to be reimbursements for employee expenses that were then included as deductions on the CVPM tax returns. Grandhe claimed the reimbursements were for out-of-pocket costs incurred by employees for continuing medical education, meals, mileage, and travel expenses. In many cases, those expenses were never incurred by the employees. Grandhe instead instructed those employees to cash the checks and provide cash back to Grandhe, which he deposited into accounts controlled by him or his family members. Grandhe then provided false documentation to his tax preparer to support the false deductions.

According to court documents, between 2017 and 2019, Grandhe also diverted business receipts to his personal bank accounts and hid this money from his tax preparer so that these amounts would not be included as business gross receipts on the CVPM tax returns. The unreported income on the CVPM tax returns resulted in decreased net income on Grandhe’s personal tax returns, reducing his taxes based on false information.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Spivak prosecuted the case.