Tax conviction sends Wheeling business owner to prison

Zhana Shnaydershteyn, the former owner of Wheeling-based Corporate Staffing and Leasing Services Inc., has been sentenced to six months in prison on a conviction of failing to pay federal income tax.

U.S. District Court Judge Milton I. Shadur handed down the sentence after Shnaydershteyn pleaded guilty to one count of willful failure to pay taxes for 2006.

After incarceration, Shnaydershteyn will be on supervised probation for two years, including six months of home confinement. She also will pay $113,652 restitution plus perform community service, according to the plea agreement filed with the court.

The count she pleaded guilty to specified failure to pay $3,746 in federal income tax withheld from employees and $2,952 in Social Security tax.

Court documents indicate she failed to pay $152,516 in various federal taxes from 2001 to 2007. The funds were spent on vacations, parties, clothing and jewelry as well as business expenses, documents state.

Shnaydershteyn owned the company from 2001 until at least 2008. It provided medical assistants and billing for doctors, the plea agreement said.

She could have faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 restitution.

The IRS can still make claims against her, court documents say.