Ex-lawyer is guilty
again of tax crimes

A disbarred Honolulu attorney has been convicted a second time of tax crimes.

A federal jury found Riccio M. Tanaka guilty on Thursday of failing to file his 2002 individual income tax return and structuring the withdrawal of $130,000 in cash from his local bank account to prevent the filing of a currency transaction report.

Maximum penalties for structuring a cash transaction are five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for failure to file an individual income tax return is one year's imprisonment, a $100,000 fine and costs of prosecution.

Tanaka, a former state public defender who later went into private practice, was previously convicted in May 2001 for failing to file his federal income tax return for 1996. He also failed to turn over to the IRS nearly $16,000 in employment taxes he withheld from his legal secretary's pay from 1995 to 1997. He served a one-year prison term, which was close to expiring when he failed to file his 2002 income tax return.

U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney Brian Bailey introduced evidence at trial that Tanaka was paid $247,693 during the first part of 2002 for legal work he performed. In May 2002, one month before he was to begin serving his sentence in the 2001 case, Tanaka made 13 cash withdrawals of $10,000 each from his First Hawaiian bank account during a 10-day period.

Federal law requires banks to report to the IRS any cash withdrawals over $10,000. Structuring a withdrawal to deter a bank from notifying the IRS is a federal crime. According to evidence at trial, Tanaka went to two different branches on six of the 10 days and withdrew $10,000 in cash from each location.

Tanaka and his attorney could not be reached for comment. Tanaka is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 29.

He was disbarred by the Hawaii Supreme Court in May 2001, but details of the case were not released.

Tanaka was suspended from practicing law in December 1997 for failing to cooperate with the Office of Disciplinary Counsel in its investigation of his professional conduct.

Tanaka was said to have issued a check for $10,468 from his clients' trust account, but the check was not honored by his bank because of insufficient funds.

In another instance, Tanaka converted about $43,000 entrusted to him. He later failed to appear before the Disciplinary Counsel with an accounting of the money.