Tax Cheat Disbarred

An attorney convicted of tax and false statements offenses was disbarred by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

This summary from the web page of the Board of Bar Overseers

The two conspiracy counts involved separate but similar schemes to divert funds and conceal income from the IRS. The first scheme involved a business by which the respondent was employed in a “sales position.” He also owned a number of private companies. The respondent sent false invoices from his companies to the business for work that had not been provided. At least $490,000 was improperly obtained over a nine-year period. From these funds, the respondent paid 90% to the general manager of the business and kept 10% for himself. The second scheme involved a construction company the owner of which was the co-conspirator. The respondent sent false bills to the company amounting to $3.3 million, of which the respondent kept 10% and returned 90% to the owner. The conspiracy charged in each scheme was to evade federal income taxes. The tax evasion charges were for false tax returns filed by the respondent between January 2005 and July 2010, in which he failed to report income from the two schemes.

The convictions for making false statements and theft of public money arose from the respondent’s application for and receipt of Section 8 benefits from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Section 8 is a program that provides subsidies to renters whose income is insufficient to pay market rates for housing. In 2006 and 2007, the respondent made false representations on Section 8 applications to HUD to qualify for Section 8 benefits. In all, he received more than $45,000 in benefits to which he was not entitled.

(Mike Frisch)