Scott Chappelle, Tax Evasion, Michigan 2024

A Michigan real estate developer has pleaded guilty to tax evasion, a crime that spanned nearly a decade.

Scott Chappelle, 61, of Okemos and East Lansing, pleaded guilty yesterday to tax evasion arising from his near decade-long effort to prevent the IRS from collecting taxes he and his businesses owed.

Chappelle, an attorney and former CPA, operated Terra Management Company, Strathmore Development Company Michigan LLC and Terra Holdings LLC, all of which were involved in real estate development and property management in the East Lansing area.

As part of his guilty plea, Chappelle admitted he did not pay over to the IRS employment taxes withheld from the wages of the companies’ employees.

When the IRS sought to collect the unpaid taxes, Chappelle made false statements to the agency about his and his companies’ assets and income, concealed his vacation house on Lake Michigan and purchased real property in nominee names instead of his own.

Chappelle also falsely told IRS employees he could not afford to pay his tax debts, when in reality he was contemporaneously using business bank accounts to pay for personal expenses such as mortgage payments on two houses and a condominium, college tuition for his children, personal credit card bills, life insurance premiums, car payments for himself and one of his children, and expenses associated with boats he owned.

Chappelle faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 2.

The case is being investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.

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