PRESS RELEASE
June 20, 2008
Lexington, Ky. —Richard Thornton Burks III, 57, of Lexington, Ky., was sentenced today to two years in prison and ordered to pay $233,472 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for conspiring to defraud the United States and for tax evasion. United States Senior District Court Judge Karl S. Forester also sentenced Richard Burks’s wife, 56-year-old Norma Ball Burks, also of Lexington, to probation for three years and placed her on home detention for six months on the conspiracy charge.
In March of 2008, Richard and Norma Burks pleaded guilty and admitted that they conspired with each other to create corporate and trust entities and to transfer money between the entities so they could conceal over $480,000 of Richard Burks’s income from the IRS. Richard Burks also admitted that he evaded the payment of prior unpaid tax assessments of nearly $150,000. As a result, Richard Burks owes $233,472 to the IRS in addition to penalties and interest.
Under federal law, Richard Burks must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence, and, upon release, will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for three years.
James A. Zerhusen, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, and Christopher R. Pikelis, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, jointly made the announcement today after the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorney John Patrick Grant.