Spa Owner Must Like Prison Better Than his Resorts

William Whittington of Scottsdale, AZ, who was previously sent to prison in 1987 for evading income tax and importing multiple tons of marijuana, was sentenced to prison again in October, 2018.

The former owner and director of the Springs Resort & Spa was given a term of 18 months in prison for filing a false individual tax returns.  During his trial, court documents revealed that Whittington underreported his income for the tax years 2010-2012 by paying personal expenses from the business account totaling over $1 million.  In addition, from 2003-2010, Whittington failed to report $9.7 million in investment income generated from two offshore bank accounts in Liechtenstein.

The total loss to the IRS for these fraudulent returns is over $1.8 million, which he is ordered to pay as restitution to the IRS, and given a period of supervised release for one year.

Previously, Whittington was a competitive racecar driver whose team won the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans.