LAWYER PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX FRAUD
BOSTON, Mass. - A lawyer from Needham was convicted today in federal court of tax evasion.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Division, announced today that MARTIN J. AHLIJANIAN, 48, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William G. Young to tax evasion.
At today’s plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial, the Government’s evidence would have proven that for the tax years 2004 through 2008, AHLIJANIAN fraudulently claimed a deduction for monthly payments that he made to his ex-wife, even though his divorce documents made those payments nondeductible. Later, when questioned by the IRS, AHLIJANIAN provided IRS agents with an altered court order and made written and oral misrepresentations to conceal his tax deficiencies. In total, AHLIJANIAN evaded approximately $132,216 in income taxes over a five-year period.
Judge Young scheduled sentencing for January 6, 2011. AHLIJANIAN faces up to five years imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie L. Wacks of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
