NBA star Zaza Pachulia's former Wisconsin accountant charged with tax fraud

Bruce Vielmetti | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Mequon accountant has agreed to plead guilty to stealing more than $800,000 by submitting false tax returns in the name of former Milwaukee Bucks player Zaza Pachulia and his wife.

Randy D. Usow, 62, is charged with two counts: theft of government property and identity theft. The first carries a possible maximum sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine. The identity theft count carries a mandatory two-year prison term.

As part of a plea deal, federal prosecutors have agreed to recommend three years. Usow must pay restitution of $618,455. Court records do not indicate a date has been set for Usow to enter his plea.

According to criminal and civil court records:

Usow, 62, owns Randy Usow Accounting Inc., with an office on North Port Washington Road. In 2004, he was introduced to Pachulia, a year after he and his wife had come to the United States from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia.

From then until 2015, Usow prepared the couple's taxes. From at least 2011 through 2015, he submitted bogus returns that fraudulently claimed large refunds, more than $800,000 worth in just four years.

That sum included a single $463,867 refund in April 2015, from a 2014 return Usow prepared. The refund went to a bank account Usow established in both his and Pachulia's name, without the player's knowledge.

Pachulia and his wife were unaware that Usow was submitting false returns in their name. He gave them copies of a proper return that showed a smaller refund due, about $164,000.

Usow transferred the large refund to another account he controlled, in the name US Government LLC, and then wired the smaller amount to Pachulia's account to make it appear the money was from the IRS.

Pachulia and his wife sued Usow in 2016 for breach of contract and fiduciary duty, negligence and misrepresentation. The suit claims Usow assured Pachulia he could deal with the complexities of tax returns for a professional athlete earning income in several states.

In March 2013, shortly after the couple had received a $499,403 federal income tax refund, they were notified that the 2011 form 1040 that generated the refund had been selected for an IRS audit. Usow told the couple he could handle the audit, but by May 2014 said they were falling behind and recommended a more experienced accountant to take over.

Then in 2015, the couple's 2013 and 2014 returns were selected for audits, and they wound up hiring tax attorneys, who then discovered that the returns Usow had filed with the IRS did not match those he gave the couple.

They also learned Usow had filed at least six amended returns for the 2011 tax year, without Pachulia's knowledge or signature.

The lawsuit stated the couple had incurred about $82,000 in penalties and interest from the IRS. The case was settled last fall; the terms were not disclosed.

Pachulia, 34, was only 20 when he first landed with the Bucks, after being drafted by Orlando, moving to Charlotte in the expansion draft and then being traded to Milwaukee in 2004. He averaged 6.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with the Bucks in the 2004-'05 season.

He spent the next several seasons with the Atlanta Hawks before returning to the Bucks in 2013, before being traded again in 2015, to Dallas for one season. He spent the last two seasons with the Golden State Warriors.