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Head Of Starkey Labs Subsidiary Indicted On Tax Fraud Charge

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The former president of a Starkey Laboratories subsidiary is the latest figure connected to the company to face criminal charges.

The Internal Revenue Service says Jeffrey Longtain, who was the COO and president of Northland Hearing Centers, Inc., was charged Wednesday with one count of filing a false tax return.

Starkey
(credit: CBS)

Longtain is accused of disguising $115,000 of income from Northland in 2014 as a loan. Authorities also claim Longtain didn't report $105,600 in golf club membership payments, which he allegedly received from two companies connected to Starkey and Northland.

Starkey Labs, the United States' largest hearing aid manufacturer, has been the focus of scrutiny since founder Bill Austin fired several executives in September of 2015, three of whom were later indicted and accused of setting up fake companies that embezzled millions of dollars from Starkey and their primary equipment supplier for about a decade.

Two of the former executives, Jerry Ruzicka and Scott Nelson, were additionally charged this January with under-reporting their taxes.

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