T.O. man third to plead guilty in Haas case
By Daniel Wolowicz camarillo@theacorn.com

Gene Haas

Denis Arthur Dupuis, the former general manager of Oxnard-based Haas Automation, pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in mid-January, admitting his part in a $20 million tax fraud scheme that investigators say was orchestrated by Camarillo resident and the company's owner, Gene Haas.

Dupuis, a 51-year-old Newbury Park resident, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and is expected back in federal court next January, said the U.S. attorney's office.

The third person named in the case to plead guilty, Dupuis faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

"By pleading guilty, Dupuis admitted that he conspired with Gene Francis Haas, the owner of Haas Automation and CNC Inc., to avoid paying federal income taxes," said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office, in a written statement. Haas, who was arrested in June 2006, is the lead defendant in an 11-count indictment filed by a federal grand jury. Charges include conspiracy, filing false tax returns and intimidating witnesses, according to the report.

Haas is accused of declaring some $50 million in phony business expenses to avoid paying nearly $20 million in taxes, said officials with the U.S. attorney's office.

Robert Gene Cable, 73, of La Crescenta was also named in the federal indictment.

Investigators said Haas' scheme began in 2000 when he tried to recoup some $8.9 million he lost to a rival firm in a patent infringement lawsuit.

The indictment found Haas worked with Dupuis and Cable to buy millions of dollars of nonexistent industrial equipment from Enmark and Supermill Inc., a Nevada-based company owned by Charles Todd. Todd also agreed last year to plead guilty to tax evasion.

Once paid, however, the two companies returned 98 percent of the money to CNC, another company owned by Haas.

Using CNC to hide the money, Haas Automation allegedly deducted more than $20 million in bogus expenses from 2000 to 2001, investigators said.

Dupuis and Haas also worked together on a complicated money laundering scheme that funneled money from Haas Automation to multiple bank accounts, including Haas' personal account.

Haas also is accused of allegedly reporting nearly $12 million in false expenses he incurred as a co-owner of a NASCAR team and another company from 2000 to 2001.

Both Haas and Cable are scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles in mid-September.

Last year, Simi Valley resident Kenneth Greene also pleaded guilty to filing false tax reports while working for Haas as the company's controller from mid-2001 to 2003.