Opinion ID: 3058598
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Spirit Construction

Text: In December 2006, IRS Agent William Rondon interviewed Spirit’s President, Marvin Marroquin. Marroquin cooperated with the government and testified at trial. Marroquin testified that his brother-in-law, Alfredo Ortega, had created Spirit with Marroquin’s driver’s license and social security number. Spirit was created not for construction work, but for the sole purpose of cashing checks to evade taxes. For this reason, Ortega explained to Marroquin that Spirit could 15 remain in existence for about a year and a half, but then Marroquin, as President, should leave the country before the IRS discovered Spirit’s activity. Ortega obtained a workers’ compensation insurance policy for Spirit and had Marroquin sign approximately 40 blank checks for Spirit. At Ortega’s request, Marroquin also obtained a rubber stamp with his signature so that Ortega could cash checks without Marroquin’s signature, should Marroquin need to leave the country. As Spirit’s President, Marroquin received a percentage of Spirit’s cashed checks as compensation for his part in the scheme. A form with Marroquin’s name and signature was found in a La Bamba file, and La Bamba filed CTRs for transactions worth more than over $20.3 million on Spirit’s behalf. Marroquin testified this was not accurate as he had never visited La Bamba, he did not know Caro, Gonzalez, or Chaoui, nor did he authorize La Bamba to cash checks for Spirit.