Christopher Scott Harrison, Tax Evasion, North Carolina 2022

A North Carolina businessman has pleaded guilty to tax evasion after using company funds for personal expenses. Christopher Scott Harrison, 56, of Fayetteville, N.C., pleaded guilty to willfully filing a false tax return with respect to nearly $25 million in unreported income he paid to himself from his company.

Harrison's company, Ebenconcepts, an insurance and Human Resources benefits business, was the source of the unreported income. Beginning at least as early as 2012, Harrison began to lavishly spend company funds for his own benefit, for example purchasing a $145,000 Rolex watch, a $102,000 Cartier diamond necklace, and an $85,000 Tiffany bracelet.

As these expenditures came to light, Harrison filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy proceedings, an accounting firm retained by the Bankruptcy Trustee discovered almost $25 million in personal expenditures attributable to Harrison reported as business expenses between tax years 2012 and 2018.

Harrison filed false personal returns over that period, which failed to report the income, leading to almost $6 million in uncollected federal income taxes.

“Wealthy tax cheats cannot be allowed to line their pockets at the expense of hardworking American taxpayers,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “The IRS enforces the nation's tax laws, but also takes particular interest in cases where someone does not pay their fair share in taxes by intentionally not reporting all their income,” said Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Charlotte Field Office.

Harrison pleaded guilty to Willfully Filing a False Tax Return. He faces up to three years in prison, restitution to the IRS and a potential fine. Sentencing before United States Chief District Judge Richard E. Myers II is scheduled to occur in the Spring.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ednc/pr/north-carolina-businessman-pleads-guilty-multi-million-tax-fraud-case