Federal authorities filed charges this week against an Arapahoe County mortgage broker who has admitted he owed $1.1 million in taxes.
Ferren Rajput, owner of Altus Real Estate, failed to collect and pay taxes in 2003 when he operated a separate and now-liquidated company, Altus Financial, according to charges filed in federal court Wednesday.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office accuses Rajput of failing to pay federal income taxes withheld from employees, Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes.
IRS spokesman John Harrison said Thursday that Rajput’s is one of the largest employment-tax cases ever filed in Colorado.
Rajput pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Wednesday, according to court documents. But he may change his plea to guilty at a hearing scheduled for Oct. 6, according to a court filing.
Rajput, a Lone Tree resident whose business is in unincorporated Arapahoe County in the Inverness area, declined to comment Thursday. Altus Real Estate operates under the name Altus Home Loans and runs prominent ads in The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News.
The charging documents do not say how much Rajput owes the government. But in his personal Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing from 2004, Rajput reported that he owed the IRS $1.1 million in unpaid employee-related taxes. He also said Altus Financial owed Colorado $174,295 in unpaid state taxes.
In a financial report Rajput filed with the court in August, he said he had paid creditors $213,386 of the $1.26 million he plans to pay them under his court-confirmed exit plan. Of that, he said he paid $40,177 to unsecured creditors, which include the federal and state governments.
Colorado Department of Revenue spokeswoman Diane Reimer said state records indicate Rajput and Altus Financial owed the state $125,134 in unpaid taxes when he filed for bankruptcy.
Staff writer Greg Griffin can be reached at 303-954-1241 or ggriffin@denverpost.com.
