Bill and Cindy Sizemore indicted for tax evasion

The Oregon Department of Justice has filed tax evasion charges against Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Sizemore and his wife Cindy.

A grand jury indicted the Sizemores on three counts each of evading Oregon personal income taxes, alleging the couple failed to file tax returns in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The Justice Department was alerted of possible criminal conduct based on evidence made public during American Federation of Teachers (AFT)-Oregon and the Oregon Education Association’s civil lawsuit where Sizemore and his organizations were found guilty of setting up fraudulent charities in order to funnel money into ballot measure campaigns, or to use for personal expenses. As a result, Sizemore was banned from managing any future charities.

The indictments were issued by the grand jury Oct. 27, but not unsealed until after a state tax amnesty period ended Nov. 19. The tax amnesty was an opportunity for taxpayers to file or amend tax returns in exchange for a waiver of civil penalties and partial interest.

Sizemore filed paperwork to run for governor on Nov. 23.

“It is a written policy that any allegations of criminal wrongdoing unearthed during a Department of Justice civil investigation be referred to the department’s Criminal Justice Division for possible prosecution,” said Sean Riddell, the head of the Criminal Justice Division. “We cannot ignore evidence of criminal conduct. We were obligated to follow up on evidence of tax evasion that arose during the civil case.”

Evidence in support of the charges was uncovered during a civil lawsuit against entities controlled by Bill Sizemore. That lawsuit established that Bill Sizemore set up a sham charity to hide political contributions to various ballot measure campaigns with which he was associated. As a result of that case, Sizemore was banned from managing any charity in an order signed by the court in May 2009.The Oregon Department of Justice’s Charitable Activities Section, which handled the civil lawsuit, referred the potential criminal charges to the Department of Justice’s Criminal Justice Division earlier this year. The Criminal Justice Division completed the tax investigation and will handle the newly indicted case in court.

“It is a written policy that any allegations of criminal wrongdoing unearthed during a Department of Justice civil investigation be referred to the department’s Criminal Justice Division for possible prosecution,” said Sean Riddell, the head of the Criminal Justice Division. “We cannot ignore evidence of criminal conduct. We were obligated to follow up on evidence of tax evasion that arose during the civil case.”

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