Bloomberg: Ex-Jenkens & Gilchrist Lawyer Gets 8 Years in Tax Case:
Donna Guerin, a former partner in
the defunct law firm Jenkens & Gilchrist, was sentenced to eight
years in prison and ordered to pay $190 million for her role in
what the U.S. called the largest criminal tax fraud in history.Guerin, 52, pleaded guilty in September 2012 just as she
was set to be retried with three other defendants for running a
10-year scheme that created $7 billion in fraudulent tax
deductions, more than $1.5 billion in phony losses and $92
million in actual losses to the U.S. Treasury. …[U.S. District Judge William] Pauley ordered Guerin to report to prison on May 14. The
judge also directed her to pay $200,000 before she surrenders to
U.S. prison authorities and said she must turn over 20 percent
of her gross income after she’s released from prison. …During her guilty plea Guerin said she worked on tax
shelters with Paul Daugerdas, also a defendant in the case,
while the two were lawyers at former Chicago-based firm
Altheimer & Gray. The two joined Dallas-based Jenkens &
Gilchrist in 1998, she said, and continued their work in helping
clients shelter income.Guerin admitted she advised clients on how to conduct
complex transactions that allowed them to wipe out financial
gains. Guerin said she also provided opinion letters to her
clients helping them assert that the deals were legitimate.
- U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Press Release
- Wall Street Journal, NY Judge Sends Ex-lawyer to Prison for 8 Years
Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:
- Daugerdas, Three Others Convicted in Criminal Tax Shelter Case (May 16, 2011)
- Daugerdas Seeks New Trial in Tax Shelter Case Based on Juror Misconduct (Aug. 16, 2011)
- Judge Grants Daugerdas Hearing on Juror Misconduct in Tax Shelter Conviction (Nov. 15, 2011)
- Suspended Lawyer Lied to Get on Daugerdas Tax Shelter Jury (Feb. 10, 2012)
- Daugerdas Wins New Trial in Criminal Tax Shelter Case Because of 'Pathological Liar' Attorney-Juror (June 4, 2012)
- Former Jenkens & Gilchrist Partner Pleads Guilty After Winning New Trial in Tax Shelter Fraud Case (Sept. 14, 2012)
