New jersey attorney and cPA pleads guilty to filing false income tax return

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 28, 2011

 

NEWARK, N.J. – David Lewis, a lawyer and Certified Public Accountant with his own law firm in Morristown, N.J., pleaded guilty today to filing a false federal income tax return, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

David Lewis, 50, of Morris Plains, N.J., entered his guilty plea to an Indictment before U.S. District Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise in Newark federal court.

According to the Indictment to which Lewis pleaded guilty and statements made in court:

Lewis, a Certified Public Accountant and an attorney with an advanced degree in tax law, held himself out on his firm’s website as an expert in income tax planning and income tax returns. Lewis admitted that in April 2004, he filed a federal income tax return for the calendar year 2003 which was false in that it failed to report more than $300,000 in income that Lewis received from his law practice.

The charge of filing a false income tax return to which Lewis pleaded guilty carries a maximum potential penalty of penalty of three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Judge Debevoise continued Lewis’ release on a $100,000 bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for June 6, 2011.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Victor W. Lessoff, with the investigation that resulted in today’s guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Kelly of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

11-087                                                                                          

Defense counsel: Alain Leibman, Esq., Lawrenceville, N.J.

Lewis, David Indictment.pdf

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