A Maui real estate agent/broker was sentenced yesterday to 24 months in prison for federal tax offenses.

Bruce Robert Travis, 60, of Kihei, the president and CEO of Americorp International LLC, was also ordered by Chief District Judge Helen Gillmor to pay $14,958 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service; $17,828 for the cost of prosecution, and a fine of $5,000. Travis' sentence was based on information produced for the court that the tax loss to the United States for the years 1996 through 2004, without any interest or penalties, totaled over $400,000.

Travis entered into a plea agreement after being indicted in July 2007 for signing and filing Form 1040 tax returns for 2003 and 2004 that falsely claimed charitable deductions for payments he made to two entities belonging to or operated by Royal Lamarr Hardy, who was convicted of tax crimes in 2005 in Honolulu, said U.S. attorney for Hawai'i Edward H. Kubo Jr.

Travis also signed and filed false amended individual income tax returns that improperly claimed itemized deductions equal to the adjusted gross income he previously reported on his original Form 1040 tax returns. As a result, Travis falsely claimed he owed no income taxes for the years 1996 through 2000, Kubo said.

According to the plea agreement, beginning around March 2004, Travis sought and obtained a fraudulent arbitration award from the Western Arbitration Council in the amount of $300,000 against both the IRS and an IRS employee who audited him. Travis obtained the fraudulent arbitration award in an attempt to hinder IRS collection efforts, Kubo said.