Date: June 30, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, announced today that Gregory Gumucio was sentenced to four years in prison for participating in a conspiracy to commit tax evasion from 2012 to 2020. Gumucio was the longtime leader of a prominent nationwide yoga business, Yoga to the People (“YTTP”), from which he made nearly $3.5 million in income between 2012 and 2020 yet did not file individual (or business) tax returns or pay any income taxes for at least eight consecutive years. Gumucio pled guilty on Oct. 4, 2024, before U.S. District Judge John P. Cronan, who imposed today’s sentence.
“Gregory Gumucio built a profitable yoga empire and lived well off its success—but he refused to pay his taxes,” said 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.”
According to statements made in court and publicly filed documents in this case:
In or around 2006, GUMUCIO founded YTTP in New York, New York. YTTP was originally donation-based: YTTP requested, but did not require, payment from its yoga students. YTTP started with one yoga studio on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and it became extremely popular. Over the ensuing years, YTTP opened at least approximately 20 yoga studios or affiliated entities throughout New York City and in various other places, including California, Colorado, Arizona, Florida, and Washington State. YTTP also had a teacher training program, which earned substantial income from aspiring yoga teachers. YTTP operated from at least approximately 2006 until 2020. From 2010 to 2020, YTTP and its affiliates generated gross receipts of more than $20 million. Despite those substantial revenues, YTTP never filed a corporate tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”).
Gumucio was YTTP’s founder, principal owner, and functional chief executive officer, as he directed and made decisions for the YTTP enterprise. From approximately 2012 through 2020, Gumucio received nearly $3.5 million in income and owed taxes to the IRS exceeding $1 million, but never filed a personal tax return with the IRS or paid any income taxes. During the charged period, Gumucio repeatedly represented his annual income to be six figures to third parties not associated with the Government (e.g., a bank, a car financing company, and a real estate entity). In one such instance, Gumucio submitted a fabricated tax return to a third party, which a co-defendant prepared for Gumucio at Gumucio’s request. During the charged period, Gumucio enjoyed an extravagant lifestyle, which included frequent foreign travel; expensive hotels, meals, and clothing; NFL season tickets; and country club payments.
In addition to the prison term, Gumucio, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, was sentenced to three years of supervised released. Gumucio was also ordered to pay the IRS restitution in the amount of $2,729,407.10.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding efforts of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s New York and Dallas Field Offices; the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General’s New York Regional Office; and Special Agents of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
This case is being handled by the Office’s Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rushmi Bhaskaran and Michael Neff are in charge of the prosecution.
IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.