The complaint was filed Friday. The government accuses the couple of using their company Drake Ventures to avoid paying personal income tax.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Former GOP strategist Roger Stone was sued Friday by the federal government for nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties.
The complaint was filed Friday against Stone and his wife Nydia Stone to collect unpaid federal income tax liabilities for nearly $1.6 million between the years 2007 through 2011, as well as more than $400,000 in 2018, according to court documents.
The suit, which is not an accusation of criminality, was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Stone was indicted on several felonies in January 2019 - including making false statements to Congress, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering - in connection with the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation on Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Former President Donald Trump commuted Stone's 40-month prison sentence in July last year, then later granted Stone a full pardon on the felony charges in December 2020.
According to the complaint, the Stones used a company they owned called Drake Ventures to pay their federal taxes. After Stone was indicted in January 2019, they opened a trust through the company to help them purchase their residence in Florida, which has no state income taxes.
"Although they used funds held in Drake Ventures accounts to pay some of their taxes, the Stones' use of Drake Ventures to hold their funds allowed them to shield their personal income from enforced collection and fund a lavish lifestyle despite owing nearly $2 million in unpaid taxes, interest, and penalties," the complaint read.
The Stones failed to pay their $20,000 monthly installment payment to the IRS in March 2019, according to the complaint, causing the agency to terminate its installment agreement, according to the lawsuit.
"The Stones intended to defraud the United States by maintaining their assets in Drake Ventures' accounts, which they completely controlled, and using these assets to purchase the Stone Residence in the name of the Bertran Trust," according to the complaint.
In a statement to CNN, Stone called the complaint "preposterous."
"They are well aware that my two-year struggle against the epically corrupt Mueller investigation has left my wife and I on the verge of bankruptcy," Stone said in the statement. "I have continued to eke out a living through my company Drake Ventures."
"To describe my current lifestyle as 'lavish' will be proved to be ridiculous in court. The political motivation of the DOJ Will be abundantly clear at trial," he continued.
