West Orange Businessman Admits Tax Evasion

NEWARK – A property manager for the Kushner Companies of Florham Park pleaded guilty today to one count of tax evasion, admitting he knowingly failed to claim $30,000 in income for tax year 2001, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Ira Bloom, 49, of West Orange, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to Count Two of a three-count Indictment which was returned on Jan. 9, 2006. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 18.

At his plea hearing, Bloom admitted that from March 2000 to the present he has been employed by Kushner Companies as a property manager. Bloom admitted that during the tax year 2000, he received and deposited checks totaling $29,750 from Westminster Management, L.P., one of the Kushner Companies. Thereafter, Bloom admitted, he received a $2,500 check from Westminster Management, L.P. on the first of each month in 2001, totaling $30,000. Bloom admitted he received the checks, totaling $59,750, in additional to his regular salary paid by W.R. Properties Associates, L.P., another one of the Kushner Companies.

Bloom admitted he knew that the income from Westminster Management, L.P. was not included on any W-2 forms that were issued to him by the Kushner Companies. Bloom admitted he willfully failed to disclose to his accountant that he had received income from Westminster Management, L.P., knowing that as a result, the $59,750 would not be included as income on the federal income tax returns, which he and his wife signed and filed with the Internal Revenue Service.

Count Two of the Indictment charges Bloom with evasion of income taxes, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Counts One and Three of the Indictment, which also charge evasion of income taxes, will be dismissed at sentencing.

Christie credited Special Agents and Revenue Agents of the IRS, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Patricia J. Haynes, and Special Agents of the Newark FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Leslie Wiser, Jr., with the investigation leading to the indictment.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas J. Eicher and Rachael A. Honig, of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.

Defense Counsel: Peter Driscoll, Esq. N.Y.