Bergen County, N.J. Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Tax Evasion

NEWARK, N.J. – A Bergen County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Mikhail Goldman, 63, of Fort Lee, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael A. Hammer to a one-count information charging him with tax evasion for failing to report a total of $600,000 in income that he received between 2007 and 2011.  Goldman was sentenced to 18 months in prison by United States District Judge Faith S. Hochberg. 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Goldman received $12 million in checks written to various companies controlled by him, which he cashed for a fee of 5 percent of the face amount of each check. Goldman then failed to disclose those retained fees of $600,000 on his income tax returns to avoid paying the taxes he owed.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Hochberg sentenced Goldman to three years of supervised release and ordered Goldman to pay over $120,000 in restitution to the United States.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Shantelle P. Kitchen, for the investigation leading to today’s sentence.

The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel Andrew Leven of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

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Defense counsel: George Farkas Esq., Brooklyn, New York