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Official guilty of tax evasion A prominent Democratic Party fund-raiser pleaded guilty yesterday to failing to pay $1.2 million in federal taxes.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A prominent Democratic Party fund-raiser pleaded guilty yesterday to failing to pay $1.2 million in federal taxes. Samuel Kuttab, owner of a Philadelphia security business that operated under several names, including Delaware Valley Security and Central Security Agency, was charged with conspiring to hide the company's profits and failing to pay income and payroll taxes. Kuttab, 42, of Wyncote, raised thousands of dollars for U.S. Rep. Robert Brady and Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street, both Democrats. He also has been active in Arab-American community groups. His security company won more than $3 million in local government contracts before closing its doors in April. This week Kuttab was indicted on an additional charge that he lied about his ownership of Central Security in order to have the company certified as a Woman's Business Enterprise - a designation that ultimately helped it land a $4.8 million contract from the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Prosecutors said Kuttab told the authorities that his sister, Phoebe Wurst, 38, owned the business, when she was actually an employee. Kuttab, Wurst, and her husband, Roch Wurst, were also accused of skimming money from customers' checks and using it to make under-the-table payments to company officers and employees. The Wursts previously pleaded guilty to tax charges. Prosecutors said Kuttab and his wife, Jehan Kuttab, 38, have not filed a federal tax return since 1992. Street and Brady placed phone calls in 2000 to help Central Security retain a shipyard contract worth $10,000 per month, a Philadelphia newspaper reported last year. Brady and Street said they did not know about the company's tax situation when they made the calls and that their help was not connected to Kuttab's fund-raising efforts.
June 27, 2002 |
