Yoga studio mogul pleads guilty to evading $2.5 million in taxes

Gregory Gumucio, 63, of Colorado, apologized after admitting he failed to pay more than $2.5 million in taxes from 2012 to 2020. He was released on bond to await a sentence on Jan. 16 by Judge John P. Cronan, who questioned Gumucio during the plea proceedings. .

A plea deal Gumucio reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive about five years in prison, the maximum term he could face after pleading guilty to a single count of conspiracy to defraud the Service Fiscal.

Two other defendants are awaiting trial in the case.

Gumucio’s business, which generated more than $20 million in revenue, had operated approximately 20 locations in the United States, including 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 looking to expand to other countries when it closed four years ago.

When Gumucio was arrested two years ago, a prosecutor said he lives in Cathlamet, Wash., has been arrested 15 times and has used at least six aliases, three Social Security numbers and claimed three places of birth in the past .

He was eventually released on $250,000 bail by a judge who noted that his last prior arrest was in 1992.

In court Friday, Gumucio admitted he agreed to pay $2.56 million in restitution, plus interest, to the IRS.

He said he did not pay taxes from 2012 to 2020.

“I apologize for that,” he told Cronan, saying he ran yoga studios in Manhattan’s East Village and elsewhere in the United States during those years.

Under questioning from the judge, Gumucio said the yoga teachers were paid in cash and did not provide them with tax forms showing how much income was collected.

“I deliberately did not file tax returns to avoid paying taxes,” he said.

He said he currently lives in Colorado, although he did not specify where.

As he left the court, Gumucio kept his head down once he realized he was being photographed. He declined to comment.