Cash business owner in Gulfport convicted

Published 12:00 am Saturday, April 11, 2009

GULFPORT (AP) — The owner of a quick-cash loan business in Gulfport has been convicted of charges that he interfered with federal tax laws and failed to file personal tax returns in 2003 and 2004.

Paul Richard Arceneaux, who now lives in Church Point, La., was indicted in 2008 for filing fictitious liens for millions of dollars against the chancery clerk for Harrison County, an employee of the chancery clerk’s office and an employee of the IRS.

The indictment also accused Arceneaux of filing frivolous lawsuits against the commissioner of Internal Revenue and an IRS employee. The lawsuits were dismissed in 2004.

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He was convicted of all counts Thursday in federal court in Gulfport.

Arceneaux will be sentenced July 15.

He faces up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $450,000.