Pilar Rose, formerly of Fresno, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction of an IRS audit, a move that will cost her both her luxury mansion and BMW sedan.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert on Monday, who confirmed Rose’s agreement to surrender her claim to more than $2.5 million in assets that authorities had already seized from her and her husband’s property.

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Criminal Financial Statements From 2012 to 2015

According to court records, Rose’s involvement in her husband’s orthodontics practice took a criminal turn between 2012 and 2015 when she allegedly falsified financial statements, hiding significant income and skirting about $870,000 in federal taxes.

Rose doctored the business’s records to underreport earnings, ultimately leading to a major tax evasion case, prosecutors said.

The deception didn’t stop there. In 2016, when the IRS initiated an audit of their finances, Rose took additional measures to throw investigators off the trail.

She altered hundreds of checks for personal expenses — including their home mortgage, utility bills, landscaping fees, car payments, and their children’s college tuition — making it appear as if they were legitimate business expenses.

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Attempts for Mortgage for Van Ness Mansion

In 2015, as Rose and her husband got a $1.5 million mortgage refinance loan for their mansion on Van Ness Extension in Fresno, Rose presented the bank with copies of their federal tax returns. These returns, however, were inflated to paint a better picture of their income. The bank declined the loan after catching the discrepancies.

Rose then applied to a second bank just a month later, requesting a nearly identical loan amount of $1.475 million. This time, Rose claimed their bank accounts held a combined balance of over $250,000 — when they actually held less than $3,000.

She again used inflated tax returns and a misleading profit and loss statement to depict her husband’s orthodontics practice as significantly more profitable. With these misrepresentations, the second bank approved the loan, allowing Rose and her husband to pocket the funds.

Authorities seized the Van Ness property as part of their investigation.

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Rose Purchased BMW, Saying She Was an Attorney

In 2017, Rose added to her list of offenses with the purchase of a BMW sedan, valued at around $90,000. She made a $25,000 down payment and secured a loan for the remainder.

In her loan application, Rose claimed she was an attorney making over $600,000 annually even though she wasn’t. She used the Social Security number of her husband’s former classmate, knowing that her own SSN would reflect a low credit score.

With these misleading claims, Rose was able to obtain the $65,000 loan, and authorities have since seized the BMW.

Rose’s sentencing is scheduled for March 17, 2025. She faces up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine for tax evasion, along with an additional three years in prison and a $5,000 fine for obstructing the IRS.