Burbank businessman sentenced for income tax evasion

By Bob Bong

A Burbank businessman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for willfully evading more than $3.7 million in federal and state income taxes.

Abraham Kiswani, 54, pleaded guilty last year to a federal tax evasion charge.  In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah last Thursday fined Kiswani $10,000.

Kiswani served as the president of World Security Bureau, a Chicago-area security firm that did business as World Security Agency.  From 2010 through 2013, Kiswani concealed his wages, compensation, and income from being reported to the IRS.  Kiswani directed the individual in charge of payroll to stop issuing payroll checks to Kiswani and to instead pay him in the form of checks falsely categorized as “subcontracted services.”  Kiswani also caused the business to pay a wide range of personal expenses which Kiswani caused to be falsely identified as business expenses.

Kiswani failed to report approximately $10 million in income that he received, resulting in a tax loss to the U.S. and State of Illinois totaling approximately $3,708,065.

The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Justin Campbell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI.

Substantial assistance was provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Housing Authority’s Office of the Inspector General.  The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. King Jr.