Two accountants have been sentenced to 20 months each in prison for the Atlanta-area promotion and sale of abusive syndicated conservation easement tax shelters. An attorney has also pleaded guilty in the case.
Federal authorities said that from at least 2014 through 2019, Victor Smith, a CPA and founding partner of a local accounting firm, promoted and sold deductions to his wealthy clients in the form of units in illegal syndicated conservation easement shelters organized and created by co-defendants
Smith, along with his firm, sold some $14 million in false tax deductions to their clients, causing a tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service of about $4.8 million. He earned $491,400 in commissions from Fisher and Sinnott for his role in the scheme.
William Tomasello was a CPA at another accounting firm who, at least in 2015 and through at least 2019, also promoted and sold units to his wealthy clients in these same syndicated conservation easement shelters, authorities said. Tomasello sold some $8.5 million in false deductions, causing a tax loss of about $2.3 million. He earned approximately $525,072 in commissions.
Smith was also ordered to serve two years of supervised release and pay $4,878,990.90 in restitution. Tomasello was ordered to serve three years of supervised release, perform 120 hours of community service and pay $2,386,816.04 in restitution.
Attorney Vi Bui, a partner at Atlanta-based Sinnott & Co., has also pleaded guilty to obstructing the IRS related to his participation in the promotion of abusive syndicated conservation easement tax shelters.
Beginning in at least 2012 and continuing through at least May 2020, Bui participated in a scheme to defraud the IRS by organizing, marketing, implementing and selling the illegal shelters created and organized by Fisher, Sinnott and others. Bui knew that, to make it appear that the participants had timely purchased their units in the tax shelters, Fisher, Sinnott and others backdated and instructed others to falsify documents, including subscription agreements, checks and other documents. And in at least one instance, Bui falsified documents himself.
Bui and others took steps to make the partnerships appear to be legitimate real estate development companies. They would create and disseminate lengthy documents disguising the true nature of the transaction, institute sham "votes" for what to do with the land that the partnership owned despite knowing that outcome was predetermined, and falsify paperwork, such as appraisals and subscription agreements.
Bui earned substantial income for his role in the illegal scheme. He also used the fraudulent tax shelters to evade his own taxes, filing false personal tax returns from 2013 through 2018 that claimed false tax deductions from the illegal syndicated conservation easement tax shelters.
Bui will be sentenced on Feb. 13. He faces up to three years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.
Following their convictions, Fisher was sentenced to 25 years and Sinnott to 23 years in prison. Nine other defendants have pleaded guilty in connection with the scheme.
