NRI doctor indicted for tax evasion

An India-born doctor in the United States has been indicted on charges of tax evasion amounting to more than $16 million and failing to report over $40 million he made from trading technology stocks in the late 1990s.

Pradeep Srivastava, 46, was charged Wednesday in United States District Court in Greenbelt (Maryland) of tax evasion, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $25,0000 million fine.

The maximum sentence for filing a false tax return is three years in prison.

The indictment, Maryland US Attorney Rod J Rosenstein said, accuses Srivastava of three counts of filing a false tax return and tax evasion.

"Anyone who thinks it is safe to evade taxes should think again, because the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice are working to find tax cheats and send them to federal prison," Rosenstein told The Washington Post.

Srivastava, who has three offices in the Greater Washington area in Maryland, appeared before US Magistrate Judge Jillyn K Schulze in the federal court in Greenberg.

He did not enter a plea during the brief hearing, and Schulze released him on his own recognisance, which Assistant US Attorney Stuart A Berman did not oppose.

Prosecutors said Srivastava made more than $40 million in short-term capital gains during 1998 and 1999 by trading stocks and stock options.

However, he allegedly only reported his losses to the accountant who prepared his tax returns, thereby understating his tax obligations for the two years by roughly $16.3 million.