The owner of an artificial turf company based in Newport Beach has confessed to not reporting nearly $9 million in income earned by his business and attempting to avoid paying over $946,000 in federal income taxes.
On Friday, Craig Steven Voyton, 56, of San Pedro, pleaded guilty to tax evasion, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Voyton is the owner and operator of Smart Grass LLC, a company that installs artificial turf for residential and commercial customers in Orange and Los Angeles counties.
According to his plea agreement, Smart Grass generated over $1.5 million in annual gross income from its business operations between 2016 and 2020. Voyton attempted to hide this income from the IRS.
Voyton sent federal tax forms with false identification information to customers via email. The intention was to disconnect the payments made to him and his company from Voyton or Smart Grass for tax purposes when customers reported these payments to the IRS.
In 2020, Voyton sent fraudulent IRS Form W-9s, containing false information and a signature under a fake identity, to customers in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills on three occasions. He admitted to sending similar fraudulent forms in the tax years 2016 to 2019 and providing a false form to a school in Irvine in August 2016.
During his attempt to evade taxes, Voyton transferred over $63,000 to the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange from a Smart Grass bank account. He also used over $500,000 from company funds to purchase real estate in Nevada and Mexico.
In total, Voyton failed to report approximately $8,926,333 in income, resulting in the IRS being unable to assess about $946,479 in federal income taxes for the tax years 2016 to 2020. Prior to his sentencing, Voyton has agreed to pay the IRS the back taxes owed, along with interest, and an additional 75% fraud penalty.
The sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 8, presided over by U.S. District Judge John Holcomb. Voyton could face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
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