[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]A Rhode Island man was sentenced to three years in prison for tax evasion.
For over ten years, Billie R. Schofield attempted to evade his federal income taxes. He partly owned and worked for Northern Pelagic LLC, a seafood processing business located in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Despite earning hundreds of thousands of dollars in income, Schofield failed to pay taxes owed and, beginning in 2009, stopped filing income tax returns. Between 2008 and 2018, Schofield obstructed IRS efforts to assess and collect his taxes by filing fraudulent forms, advancing frivolous tax arguments, creating and using a nominee entity and bank account, negotiating income checks to cash, and creating and submitting fraudulent checks to the IRS in an attempt to extinguish his tax liabilities. Including penalties and interest, Schofield caused a tax loss of more than $350,000 to the United States.
In addition to a term of imprisonment, Schofield was sentenced to three years of supervised release, a $5,000 fine, and ordered to pay $364,200.22 in restitution to the IRS.[/vc_column_text][us_image image=”2463″][/vc_column][/vc_row]