|
|
|
|
|
Trump donor/Scientologist owes IRS over $3 million December 7, 2019 - see December 12 update at bottom
A few days ago, I received an email from a guy in Florida who collects IRS tax lien records and sells them to tax professionals who in turn use them to market their services to people who need tax representation. He'd found one for $1.21 million filed in Calhoun County, Michigan, for a Per A Wickstrom. He googled Per Wickstrom and found my story Drug rehab fraud in Michigan. He emailed me and graciously told me how to get a copy of the lien. Here it is.
I passed the information on to Traverse City blogger Anita Senkowski, who has been reporting on Wickstrom much longer than I. She did some further research and found that a lien had also been filed in Pinellas County, Florida, where Wickstrom owns two homes:
The lien is for a total of $1,210,613. It is for 2014 and 2017 income taxes.
Wickstrom, an avowed Scientologist, owns three drug rehabilitation facilities in Michigan, one of them in Calhoun County, where he also owns a home. A fourth rehab facility in Ottawa County closed in the summer of 2018.
My Drug rehab fraud in Michigan story includes a list of political contributions, including $4,000 to the Trump Make America Great Again Committee and $2,600 to Donald J. Trump for President. He also donated $100,000 to the Trump inauguration committee.
That Ottawa County rehab center was troubled, as suggested by the list of police calls I obtained from the Ottawa County Sheriff. Its closure must have been a serious financial blow. Wickstrom bought the property for $6.5 million, initially asked $6.8 million for it, and knocked the price down to $2.9 million in October 2019.
Still, judging by his 4 private residences, he is far from broke. The most expensive is the one on Tampa Bay just north of Safety Harbor, Florida (photos here). According to the Tampa Bay Times, when Wickstrom and his wife paid $6.875 million for it in 2016, it was the most paid for a single family Tampa Bay area home since 2013. He also owns residences in Pennfied Township in Calhoun County and on beautiful Torch Lake in Antrim County. Here is the Pennfield Township home under construction:
The fourth is back in Florida, in Clearwater, about 10 miles from the Safety Harbor home. Its address is the one given on the IRS liens: 309 Jasmine Way. According to this site, its value is $1,185,800.
Anita Senkowski has also posted a story on the IRS liens.
Update: Another IRS tax lien has come to light. This one is for the 2018 tax year, for $1,828,671.97. It was filed December 3. So the total for the two liens is $3,039,285. In other news, it appears that Per has filed for divorce. See Anita Senkowski's updated story.
Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.
|
Public
Policy
