Minneapolis landlord, subject of $1M lawsuit, now charged with felony tax crimes
MINNEAPOLIS -- A Minneapolis landlord previously fined for poor living conditions at his properties is now facing multiple felony charges for tax crimes.
According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, Steven Meldahl and his business, SJM Properties, are each charged with three felony counts of failing to pay sales tax and two felony counts of filing false or fraudulent sales tax documents.
Meldahl allegedly used fake sales tax exemption certificates, claiming his business was a nonprofit exempt from paying sales tax to multiple retailers, even though SJM Properties is not registered as a nonprofit or charity service with any government agency.
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Charging documents say Meldahl made multiple sales text-exempt purchases between October 2017 and December 2022, evading paying over $19,000 in sales tax.
In November 2021, Meldahl was found guilty of violating the rights of 267 families who rented from him. He charged more than 8% in late fees, prevented tenants from having their homes inspected by the city, and in some cases allowed tenants to live in wild-animal infestations "of Biblical plague proportions," the Minnesota Attorney General's Office said.
Meldahl was ordered to pay the state over $1 million in legal fees last year to cover the state's costs of investigating and prosecuting his landlord violations.
A lawsuit filed in 2019 claimed Meldahl forced low-income families to pay security deposits worth thousands of dollars, which he would pocket after eviction. At the time, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said Meldahl has been cited more than 1,300 times in the last decade for city housing code violations.
The court ordered Meldahl to pay a fine of $133,500 for disrespectful and unlawful treatment of vulnerable low-income residential tenants.