United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

ATTORNEY SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR FAILING TO PAY TAXES

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that MICHAEL SHERMAN, also known as “Mickey,” 64, of Greenwich, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, for willfully failing to pay his federal income taxes.

According to court documents and statements made in court, SHERMAN, an attorney, failed to pay his federal income taxes in 2001 and 2002 after he filed his tax returns reporting his income in each of those years.  In October 2002, after receiving an extension from the Internal Revenue Service, SHERMAN filed an individual income tax return for the 2001 tax year indicating that he had received $667,256 in taxable income and owed $278,304 in income taxes.  However, even though he had the ability to do so, SHERMAN willfully failed to pay the taxes he owed.

In October 2003, again after receiving an extension, SHERMAN filed an individual income tax return for the 2002 tax year indicating that he had received $347,757 in taxable income and owed $142,406 in income taxes.  Again, he failed to pay his taxes even though he had the ability to do so.

This year, as a result of the prosecution of this case, SHERMAN paid approximately $400,000 in taxes for the years 2001 and 2002.  However, he still owes penalties and interest of more than $320,000 for those years.  SHERMAN also owes more than $962,000 in taxes, penalties, and interest for tax years 2004 to 2009.

Today, Judge Hall ordered SHERMAN to cooperate with the Internal Revenue Service to resolve his outstanding tax liabilities, which total more than $1.2 million.

On June 30, 2010, SHERMAN pleaded guilty to two counts of willfully failing to pay federal income taxes.

This investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov