9-09-2023 11:14am

Artificial Turf Business Owner Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison for Tax Evasion by Failing to Report Nearly $9 Million in Business Revenue

Anita Johnson-Brown Editor

Craig Steven Voyton, the owner of a Newport Beach-based artificial turf company, has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for tax evasion and failing to report nearly $9 million in income his business earned. Voyton also attempted to evade the payment of more than $946,000 in federal income taxes. The 56-year-old from San Pedro was sentenced by United States District Judge John W. Holcomb, who also ordered him to pay a fine of $50,000.

Voyton admitted to one count of tax evasion in court on July 7. He owns and operates Smart Grass LLC, which installs artificial turf for residential and commercial customers in Orange and Los Angeles counties. From 2016 to 2020, Smart Grass generated more than $1.5 million in gross income per year from its business operations. Voyton attempted to conceal that income from the IRS, not wanting to pay taxes on it.

To hide the income, Voyton emailed customers federal tax forms listing false identification information. This way, if and when the customers reported the payments they had made to him and his company to the IRS, those payments would not be linked directly to Voyton or Smart Grass for tax purposes. Voyton sent similar fraudulent IRS Forms W-9 during the tax years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. He also provided a false IRS Form W-9 to a school in Irvine in August 2016.

In addition to the tax evasion, while attempting to evade the payment of taxes, Voyton made more than $63,000 in transfers to the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange from a Smart Grass bank account. Voyton also used more than $500,000 in company funds to make real estate purchases in Nevada and Mexico.

In total, Voyton failed to report approximately $8,926,333 in income, which prevented the IRS from assessing the total sum of approximately $946,479 in federal income taxes for the tax years 2016 through 2020. Before the sentencing hearing, Voyton paid the IRS all the back taxes he owed, plus interest, as well as paying an additional 75% fraud penalty.

“[Voyton] was a business owner who operated a business in Orange and Los Angeles counties. He generated more than a million dollars in business income each year. He reported not one dime of that to the IRS,” prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this matter, and Assistant United States Attorney Charles E. Pell of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted the case.

By Anita Johnson-Brown