Dr. Robert B. Sperrazza, Tax Evasion & Currency Structuring, Georgia 2013

Dr. Robert B. Sperrazza, a 61-year-old resident of Panama City Beach, Florida, and formerly a resident of Lee County, Georgia, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for tax evasion and currency structuring.

According to the United States Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, Dr. Sperrazza was convicted by a jury on June 7, 2013, of 5 felony offenses, including 3 counts of tax evasion and 2 counts of currency structuring.

Currency structuring is a criminal offense in which a person intentionally makes cash transactions in amounts under $10,000 in order to avoid the Currency Transaction Reporting Requirement of the Internal Revenue Service.

The government’s evidence at trial proved that Dr. Sperrazza personally cashed over one million dollars in patient checks at the counter of a local bank in Albany, Georgia. Dr. Sperrazza structured the cash transactions in amounts under $10,000 for the purpose of evading the bank reporting requirements of federal law and for the purpose of furthering his tax avoidance scheme.

Dr. Sperrazza was formerly an anesthesiologist in Albany, Georgia. He later moved to Panama City Beach, Florida, where he briefly operated a pain clinic. Dr. Sperrazza is not currently involved in the practice of medicine.

‘Our tax and currency reporting laws simply require that we play by the rules,’ said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore. ‘Dr. Sperrazza tried to get around the rules and was caught by his own greed. He may have been able to evade the tax laws, but now he faces a considerable prison sentence because the criminal law caught up with him.’

The case was jointly investigated by the Criminal Investigation Division and the Special Enforcement Program of the Internal Revenue Service and by the United States Secret Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney James N. Crane.

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