Vancouver mining consultant lands conditional sentence and fine for fraud and tax evasion

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced today that Damien Edward Reynolds was sentenced on May 11, 2020, to a conditional sentence of 2 years less a day and ordered to pay a fine of $121,179.

On October 24, 2019, a jury found Mr. Reynolds, a dual Canadian and Australian citizen, guilty of one count of fraud, and one count of attempted fraud under the Criminal Code. Mr. Reynolds was also found guilty of one count of goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax (GST/HST) evasion under the Excise Tax Act.

Following the jury’s verdict, a British Columbia (BC) Supreme Court judge determined that Mr. Reynolds committed fraud by failing to file Canadian income tax returns for the 2004 and 2005 tax years. During that period, Mr. Reynolds worked and carried on business in Canada as a mining industry consultant, and as Chief Executive Officer of Tournigan Gold Corporation, a publically traded company. In total, Mr. Reynolds earned in $609,745 in taxable employment income, which he failed to report.

It was also determined that Mr. Reynolds attempted to defraud the Governments of Canada and BC of an amount in excess of $5,000, by claiming false losses on his 2007 and 2008 income tax returns. For the 2009 to 2012 tax years, as both officer and director of JAT 001 Holding Ltd., Mr. Reynolds was found to have willfully evaded payment of $121,179 in GST/HST.

In addition to the court-imposed fine, Mr. Reynolds will also have to pay the full amount of tax owing, plus related interest and any penalties assessed by the CRA.

All case-specific information above was obtained from the court records.

Tax evasion is a crime. Falsification of records, claims and CRA documents, wilfully not reporting income, or inflating expenses can lead to criminal charges, prosecution, jail time, and a criminal record. Under the income tax and excise tax laws, being convicted of tax evasion can include fines ranging from 50% to 200% of the evaded taxes and up to five years in jail. Being convicted of tax fraud under section 380 of the Criminal Code carries a sentence of up to 14 years in jail.

The CRA remains dedicated to maintaining the integrity of Canada’s tax system, and the social and economic well-being of Canadians during these unprecedented times. The CRA continues to aggressively pursue tax evasion, and false claims with all the tools available to them. The CRA is dedicated to ensuring that individuals and businesses claim income earned and losses to which they are entitled so that important benefit programs can be administered to those who need them. As a result of COVID-19, we are seeing the increased importance of these benefits, and are working to ensure that they continue to be available to Canadians. Any individual or business who claims losses or benefits that they are not entitled to, including ineligible claims related to new COVID-19 benefits, will face serious consequences.

The CRA has set up a free subscription service to help Canadians stay current on the CRA’s enforcement actions.

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Contact

Media Relations
Cheryl Yeung
Canada Revenue Agency
604-666-9261