Gregory Gumucio, the former leader of the nationwide yoga business Yoga to the People (YTTP), has been sentenced to four years in prison for a tax evasion scheme. The announcement was made by Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Gumucio was found guilty of participating in a conspiracy to evade taxes from 2012 to 2020, during which he earned nearly $3.5 million without filing tax returns or paying income taxes for eight consecutive years.
“Gregory Gumucio built a profitable yoga empire and lived well off its success—but he refused to pay his taxes,” stated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Hard-working, tax-paying New Yorkers want our Office to pursue business owners who game the tax system. With today’s sentencing, Mr. Gumucio is being held accountable.”
Gumucio founded YTTP in New York City around 2006 as a donation-based yoga studio that expanded into approximately 20 locations across several states including California and Colorado. Despite generating over $20 million in gross receipts between 2010 and 2020, YTTP never filed corporate tax returns with the IRS.
As YTTP’s founder and chief executive officer, Gumucio did not file personal tax returns or pay income taxes on his earnings from 2012 through 2020, resulting in over $1 million owed to the IRS. During this period, he misrepresented his income to third parties such as banks and real estate entities and submitted fabricated tax documents prepared by a co-defendant at his request.
In addition to his prison sentence, Gumucio will serve three years of supervised release and must pay restitution of $2,729,407.10 to the IRS.
The investigation involved efforts from multiple agencies including the IRS Criminal Investigation’s New York and Dallas Field Offices; the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General’s New York Regional Office; and Special Agents from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is managed by the Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rushmi Bhaskaran and Michael Neff leading the prosecution.
