Date: November 2, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Santa Ana, CA — An Orange County tax attorney pleaded guilty yesterday for underreporting $1.68 million in income during tax years 2016 through 2018, causing a tax loss of nearly $645,000, which included funds she embezzled from a client's trust. Ania Lowenthal of Trabuco Canyon, the owner and operator of the Law Offices of Ania Lowenthal in Ladera Ranch, pleaded guilty to three counts of subscribing to a false tax return. Lowenthal has agreed to pay $644,579 in restitution to the IRS and to transfer deeds on two properties purchased with money embezzled from a deceased person's family trust for which she was the trustee. According to her plea agreement, the settlor of the trust died in March 2016, and in December 2016 Lowenthal embezzled $1.1 million from a bank account belonging to the trust by causing a wire transfer to a Citibank account in the name of JAWLO LLC, which Lowenthal controlled. She subsequently wired those funds from JAWLO's bank account to an escrow account to purchase a residence for herself in Coto de Caza. In May 2017, Lowenthal embezzled $500,000 from a bank account belonging to the trust by wiring money from the trust's bank account to an account in the name of JAWLO. Lowenthal subsequently wired those funds from JAWLO's bank account to an escrow account to purchase another residence for her mother in Rancho Santa Margarita. In May 2018, the United States Treasury issued a tax refund check to Lowenthal on behalf of the deceased settlor of the trust in the amount of approximately $84,861. On May 10, 2018, Lowenthal deposited that tax refund check into her personal bank account, rather than depositing it into a bank account of the trust. In total, for the tax years 2016, 2017, and 2018, Lowenthal under-reported her income by $1,684,861, resulting in $644,579 in additional taxes due and owing to the United States Treasury. "Ms. Lowenthal violated the faith and trust of the decedent and the family," said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation (CI), Los Angeles Field Office. "She had a responsibility to look out for someone's last wishes and the family's interests. Money trails never lie, and our agents are experts at following the money. Ms. Lowenthal will now face the consequences for her transgressions." United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney scheduled a March 18, 2024 sentencing hearing, at which time Lowenthal will face a statutory maximum sentence of three years in federal prison for each false statement count. Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin D. Lichtman of the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California is prosecuting this case. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
