News and Press Releases
Attorney pleads guilty to filing a false income tax return
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 28, 2012
MINNEAPOLIS—This week in federal court in St. Paul, a Twin Cities-based attorney doing business as Sea Law Office, PLC, pleaded guilty to failing to report and pay taxes on more than $420,000 in income for tax years 2006 through 2010. Bobby Gordon Okechuku Onyemeh Sea pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. Sea was charged on November 2, 2012, and entered his plea before U.S. District Court Judge Richard H. Kyle.
From 2006 to the present, Sea earned gross receipts for legal services. In his plea agreement, Sea admitted that he failed to report all of those gross receipts on his tax returns, and that he used the unreported income for his personal benefit. In addition, Sea admitted that on April 15, 2008, he filed a false 2007 tax return, claiming false tax credits. He reported a taxable income of $9,087, and refundable credits of $3,529. Sea understated his taxable income by approximately $100,000, and the claimed refundable credits were entirely false.
Sea also admitted filing false tax returns for tax years 2006, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Sea admitted he is responsible for a total tax loss of at least $80,000, but less than $200,000.
For his crime, Sea faces a potential maximum penalty of three years in prison. Judge Kyle will determine his sentence at a future hearing, yet to be scheduled. This case is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy C. Rank.Per U.S. Department of Justice policy, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is not allowed to provide the age and city of residence for defendants charged in criminal tax cases.
