Samuel Gentle, Filing False Tax Returns, New York 2016
WHITE PLAINS, NY - In a shocking turn of events, Samuel Gentle, a Mount Vernon-based tax preparer, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison for filing false tax returns on behalf of himself and his clients. This brazen act of tax evasion resulted in a staggering loss of over half a million dollars to the IRS.
Gentle, 59, of Mount Vernon, New York, was found guilty in July 2016 after a one-week trial before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel. The evidence presented at trial revealed a pattern of false and fraudulently inflated deductions for business expenses and gifts to charity on tax returns prepared by Gentle.
According to the investigation, Gentle operated a large tax preparation business that prepared and submitted to the IRS, on average, 3,200 tax returns each year. However, numerous clients testified that they had not provided Gentle with any information that he could have used to support the false or inflated deductions.
As part of the investigation, an undercover IRS agent posed as Gentle's client. During the operation, the agent provided Gentle with no records that he could have used to support any deductions. But, consistent with his pattern, Gentle included false and fraudulent deductions for business expenses and gifts to charity on the tax return he prepared for the undercover agent.
Gentle also failed to report on his own personal and business tax returns nearly half of the $1 million in receipts that he received for his tax preparation services from 2010 through 2014. He spread the receipts across eight bank accounts at five banks, and he failed to issue required IRS forms to himself or his employees, further concealing from the IRS the amount of receipts he and his business had received.
As confirmed by IRS audits as well as the evidence at trial, Gentle's crimes resulted in a loss to the IRS of more than $550,000. In addition to the prison term, Gentle was sentenced to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay a $125,000 fine and to pay the IRS over $295,000 in back taxes.
The case was handled by the Office's White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer Beidel, Margery Feinzig, and James McMahon are in charge of the case.
MOUNT Vernon, NY (Grimy Times) - Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, praised the investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and thanked the IRS for its assistance.
Defendant Name: Samuel Gentle
Exact Criminal Charges: Obstructing the IRS and preparing false and fraudulent individual income tax returns
City and State: Mount Vernon, New York
Exact Date: Not specified in the source
Sentence or Outcome: 51 months in prison, $125,000 fine, and over $295,000 in back taxes
Dollar Amounts: Over $550,000 in losses to the IRS, $1 million in receipts from tax preparation services
Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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