OMAHA, Neb. -- An Omaha man was sentenced for income tax evasion and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

Acting U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr said 42-year-old Jeffrey Stenstrom, of Omaha, was sentenced on Thursday. He was convicted for conspiracy to commit money laundering. Stentrom will serve 30 months in prison for income tax evasion and 78 months in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering. The sentences will run concurrently and he will serve a two-year term of supervised release after. There is no parole in the federal system. Stenstrom has to pay $5,146,816.51 to victim property owners who were clients of Darland Properties, LLC and $1,954,505.10 in restitution to the IRS. 

Stenstrom also forfeited his interest in a 2020 McLaren 600LT Spider, a lake home in Fremont, a home in Queen Creek, Ariz., two commercial properties in Nebraska, nearly $2.2 million in life insurance policy proceeds, $ 74,743.00 in currency, and multiple items of jewelry and luxury watches.

According to court documents, Stenstrom owned and operated Stenstrom Services, Inc. from 2006 to 2021. SSI described itself as a commercial remodeling and repair business. Brett Cook was the vice president of Darland Properties, LLC. Cook negotiated prices for work to be completed on properties managed by Darland Properties and authorized payments to be made from the real estate trust accounts of Darland Properties’ clients. Stenstrom had been in a decades’ long relationship with Cook. Cook is now deceased.

Officials said Cook used his position as the vice president to direct repair work to SSI in 2015. SSI performed no skilled labor, had no employees, and all regular laborers were unskilled. Most of the work SSI performed for DP was subcontracted. Cook was the initial point of contact for many of the subcontractors and directed the subcontractors that all work must be run through SSI. Cook and Stenstrom used SSI to fraudulently obtain monies from DP’s clients by causing SSI to bill for work that was not performed, overbilling for work, and causing SSI’s inflated invoices to be submitted to insurance companies to get insurance proceeds that DP’s clients were not entitled to.

Stenstrom made his income from SSI from 2012 to 2016. SSI made $752,744 in 2012, $469,140 in 2013, $641,010 in 2014, $731,091 in 2015, and $575,466 in 2016. The IRS assessed $1,725,532.91 related to unpaid income tax owed by Stenstrom on May 30, 2018. Stenstrom gave a signed form to an IRS Revenue Officer on Dec. 14, 2018, that left out several assets owned by Stenstrom that were being held in the name of a third party to include a second home in Queen Creek, Ariz. that was valued at $1,000,000, a Ferrari 488 Coupe valued at $200,000 to $300,000, a boat, an ATV, a Jeep, and a home in Fremont valued at $450,000. Stenstrom also left out the transfer of a home in Gilbert, Ariz., to another party for below fair market value.

Authorities said the IRS placed a tax levy on Stenstrom’s accounts in 2019. Cook and Stenstrom stopped sending work to SSI and started directing work to Midwest Property Maintenance Solutions, which was created by Cook and a family member of Cook. Cook, his family member, and Stenstrom used MPMS to fraudulently get money from DP’s clients by billing for work that had previously been completed by SSI, billing for work that was not performed, billing for warranties it did not provide and were previously paid for by DP’s clients, and overbilling for work that was done.

The money from the wire fraud scheme were put into SSI’s, MPMS’s, and Cook’s bank accounts where the fraudulently obtained funds were mixed with legitimate funds.

According to court documents, the funds were then transferred to multiple bank accounts held in Cook’s name, Stenstrom’s name, Cook’s family member’s name, AZ Midwest Properties, LLC, 14334 Industrial Road, LLC, and B & B Real Estate, LLC (a real estate partnership that Cook was a partner in), where they were further mixed with legitimate funds.

Officials said the money was then used for residential and commercial real estate, luxury vehicles, life insurance policies, jewelry, watches, credit card purchases, and loan payments. Cook, Stenstrom, and Cook’s family member hid the scheme by laundering the money through several business and personal bank accounts, buying and selling the previously mentioned assets, and using that money to get more assets. The scheme resulted in more than $5,100,000.00 being fraudulently obtained from DP’s clients for the personal benefits of Cook, his family member, and Stenstrom.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.