A locally prominent certified public accountant (CPA) was sentenced to five years in prison in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for tax fraud.
According to U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst, Carl Nicholson, a CPA, abused his position of trust and defrauded Mississippians and American taxpayers.
Nicholson was convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as six counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns and four counts of filing false tax returns on February 8, 2019.
Nicholson conspired with a client to falsely classify $740,000 of personal payments as business expenses and filed false tax returns on the client’s behalf with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from 2012 to 2014.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Keith Starrett ordered Nicholson to serve three years of supervised release, to pay a $25,000 fine, and to pay restitution of $629,432 to the IRS.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Golden and Trial Attorney Kim Shartar of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.
The case serves as a reminder that the government will prosecute individuals who violate tax laws and that the penalties for such conduct include significant prison time.
Key Facts
- State: Mississippi
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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