Yoga business founder pleads guilty to tax charge in New York City
An international yoga business founder whose chain of yoga studios promoted themselves as “Yoga to the People” has pleaded guilty to a tax charge in a New York federal court
NEW YORK — An international yoga business founder whose chain of yoga studios promoted themselves as “Yoga to the People” pleaded guilty on Friday to a tax charge in a New York federal court.
Gregory Gumucio, 63, of Colorado, apologized as he admitted not paying over $2.5 million in taxes from 2012 to 2020. He was freed on bail to await a Jan. 16 sentencing by Judge John P. Cronan, who questioned Gumucio during the plea proceeding.
A plea agreement Gumucio reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive a sentence of about five years in prison, the maximum amount of time he could face after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service.
Two other defendants are awaiting trial in the case.
Gumucio's business, which generated over $20 million in revenue, had operated in about 20 locations in the United States, including in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California; Tempe, Arizona; Orlando, Florida; and cities in Colorado and Washington. It also operated in studios in Spain and Israel and was seeking to expand to other countries when it closed four years ago.
When Gumucio was arrested two years ago, a prosecutor said he was the living in Cathlamet, Washington, and had been arrested 15 times and had in the past used at least six aliases, three Social Security numbers and claimed three places of birth.
He was eventually freed on $250,000 bail by a magistrate judge who noted that his last previous arrest was in 1992.
In court on Friday, Gumucio acknowledged that he had agreed to pay $2.56 million in
Read more on abcnews.go.com
