Skip to content
Narrow screen resolution  Wide screen resolution  Increase font size  Decrease font size  Default font size  Skip to content Default color Pink color Green color Green color
Overview arrow Surgeons arrow News Stories arrow Dr. Glenn Kawesch Ordered to Prison
Dr. Glenn Kawesch Ordered to Prison Print E-mail
Kawesch evaded millions in taxes By Onell R. Soto
STAFF WRITER

April 29, 2005

A prominent former eye doctor who grew wealthy by performing tens of thousands of laser surgeries on patients he solicited through widespread advertising was sentenced yesterday to five months in prison for skirting more than $4 million in taxes.


Glenn Kawesch
Glenn Kawesch, 44, of Carmel Valley pleaded for leniency before a San Diego federal judge.

"We're all human beings, and we all make mistakes," he said. "I made a terrible, life-destroying mistake when I evaded taxes."

Prosecutor Larry Wszalek asked the judge to reject Kawesch's request for probation.

"We're here because Dr. Kawesch is a tax cheat," he said.

Kawesch, whose practice was based in La Jolla, admitted he used three methods to cheat on his taxes between 1997 and 1999:

 When patients paid for the surgeries in cash, he took the money home and spent it instead of logging it into his company's ledgers and reporting it as income. As a result, he underreported his income by more than $1.5 million.

He logged a $1 million transaction as a marketing agreement, when in fact it was designed to send the money to an offshore tax haven.

He entered into a complicated agreement with an Irish firm in which he technically went to work for another company that then leased his services back to his medical practice. He avoided taxes on more than $9 million, claiming instead to earn $125,000 a year.

He used some of the money to buy a $1.9 million Learjet, since sold at a loss.

The complete article is available at  www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050429/news_7m29eyes.html
 
[ Back ]