Old Saybrook Tax Evader Charged with $4.6M Scam

Old Saybrook Resident Indicted for Tax Evasion

David Adams, a 55-year-old Old Saybrook resident, has been charged with tax evasion and filing a false tax return, according to court documents.

As alleged in the indictment, Adams sold an online floral business in 2002, which accounted for a significant portion of $6,269,960 in taxable income he claimed on his 2002 tax return.

Although Adams represented to the IRS on or about August 8, 2003, that he was enclosing payment of $1,250,000, no such payment was enclosed and such tax was still outstanding as of June 2011.

The indictment further alleges that on or about June 7, 2011, Adams sold his partnership interest in another online floral business and received $4,708,419.20 wired into his personal bank account as part of the net proceeds owed to him as a result of the sale.

Adams owes approximately $4.6 million in back taxes, interest and penalties for tax years 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, and 2012. He appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert A. Richardson in Hartford and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the indictment.

U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly stressed that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines and has been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.