Alabama Pharmacist and Wife Plead Guilty to Tax Fraud Conspiracy

Thomas K. Frye and Kathy M. Frye, husband and wife, and residents of Andalusia, Ala., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

According to court documents, beginning in 1999, the Fryes conspired to defraud the United States by submitting IRS forms to their employers that falsely claimed they were exempt from federal income taxes. When the IRS attempted to collect back taxes owed by the Fryes, Thomas Frye submitted false financial instruments to the IRS in purported payment of his and his wife’s tax liability. In one such instrument, Mr. Frye represented to the IRS that the false instrument had a value of $100 billion. Court records also established that, as part of the conspiracy, the Fryes filed false federal income tax returns for the years 2000 through 2007 that substantially understated their incomes.

Sentencing has not yet been scheduled. The Fryes face a potential maximum of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, an order of restitution and a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the loss caused by the offense.          

Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Justice Department’s Tax Division thanked the Special Agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation who investigated the case, Tax Division Trial Attorneys Charles M. Edgar, Jr. and Michael C. Boteler, who are prosecuting the case, and United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. and his entire office for their assistance with the prosecution.

More information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at http://www.justice.gov/tax.