Yoga studio tycoon pleads guilty to evading $2.5 million in taxes
An international yoga business founder whose chain of yoga studios billed itself as “Yoga for Everyone” pleaded guilty Friday to tax charges in New York federal court.
Gregory Gumucio, 63, of Colorado, apologized as he admitted failing to pay more than $2.5 million in taxes from 2012 to 2020. He was released on bail pending sentencing on Jan. 16 by Judge John P. Cronan, who questioned Gumucio during the confession.
A plea agreement Gumucio reached with prosecutors calls for him to receive a sentence of about five years in prison, the maximum amount of time he could face after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud Department of Internal Revenue.
Two other defendants are awaiting trial in the case.
Gumucio’s business, which generated more than $20 million in revenue, operated in about 20 locations in the United States, including in San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland, California; Tempe, Arizona; Orlando, Fla.; and cities in Colorado and Washington. It also operates studios in Spain and Israel and was looking to expand to other countries when it closed four years ago.
When Gumucio was arrested two years ago, a prosecutor said he lived in Cathlamet, Washington, and had been arrested 15 times and had previously used at least six aliases, three Social Security numbers and declared three places of birth.
He was eventually released on $250,000 bail by a magistrate judge, who noted that his last previous arrest was in 1992.
In court Friday, Gumucio admitted that he agreed to pay $2.56 million in restitution with interest to the IRS.
He said he did not pay taxes from 2012 to 2020.
“I’m sorry about that,” he told Cronan, saying he ran yoga studios in Manhattan’s East Village and elsewhere in the United States during those years.
When questioned by the judge, Gumucio said the yoga teachers were paid in cash and that he did not provide them with tax forms showing how much revenue they collected.
“I deliberately did not file a tax return to avoid taxes,” he said.
He said he now lives in Colorado, although he did not specify where.
When leaving court, Gumucio kept his head down when he realized he was being photographed. He declined to comment.
