La Mota 首席执行官被联邦起诉 被控未缴雇佣税逾154万美元
波特兰讯——位于俄勒冈州马尔特诺马县的波特兰联邦大陪审团已对俄勒冈大麻企业 La Mota 首席执行官 Rosa Cazares 提起公诉。美国司法部俄勒冈区联邦检察官办公室10月15日宣布的起诉书指控，Cazares 被控在2020年3月至2021年12月期间，故意未按规定代扣、核算并向联邦缴纳员工工资税款。
检方称，Cazares 负责 La Mota 大麻连锁与薪资处理公司 503 Staffing LLC 的财务，依法须从员工工资中代扣联邦所得税、社会保障税与医疗保险税并上缴美国国税局。起诉书指，八个季度未缴的信托基金税款合计1,542,413美元，每个季度各构成一项指控，共8项。若罪名成立，每项最高可判5年联邦监禁，另加罚款与赔偿，合计最高40年。检方强调，起诉书仅属指控，Cazares 在法庭证明有罪之前应被推定无罪。
Cazares 是俄勒冈州政坛的知名捐款人。2023年，时任州务卿 Shemia Fagan 被曝在一家与 Cazares 关联的公司以每月1万美元担任顾问、而其办公室同期正审计州大麻监管机构，之后辞职。据《Statesman Journal》报道，Cazares 另有2023年约140万美元的联邦税留置记录。本案由联邦助理检察官 Meredith D.M. Bateman 负责起诉。（GSM 据美国司法部俄勒冈区联邦检察官办公室新闻稿、《Statesman Journal》报道）
La Mota CEO Rosa Cazares Indicted on Federal Charges Over $1.54 Million in Unpaid Payroll Taxes
PORTLAND, Ore. — A federal grand jury in Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, has indicted Rosa Cazares, chief executive officer of Oregon cannabis company La Mota. The indictment, announced October 15 by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, charges that Cazares willfully failed to collect, account for and pay over federal payroll taxes between March 2020 and December 2021.
Prosecutors say Cazares oversaw the finances of the La Mota cannabis chain and of 503 Staffing LLC, a payroll processing company, and was responsible for withholding federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from employees' wages and remitting them to the IRS. Across eight calendar quarters, the unpaid trust fund taxes totaled $1,542,413, with each quarter forming a separate count — eight counts in all. If convicted, she faces up to five years in federal prison on each count, plus fines and restitution, for a combined maximum of 40 years. Prosecutors stress that an indictment is only an allegation and that Cazares is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Cazares has been a prominent political donor in Oregon. In 2023, then-Secretary of State Shemia Fagan resigned after it emerged that she had taken a $10,000-a-month consulting job with a company affiliated with Cazares while her office was auditing the state cannabis regulator. According to the Statesman Journal, Cazares also faces a federal tax lien of about $1.4 million from 2023. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith D.M. Bateman. (GSM, based on the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon and the Statesman Journal)
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：俄勒冈州一家大麻药房（示意照片，非涉案门店）。Elsa Olofsson 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons 发布。A cannabis dispensary in Oregon (illustrative photo, not a store involved in the case). Photo by Elsa Olofsson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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