Missouri CPA Sentenced to 42 Months in Prison for Mail Fraud and Tax Evasion

WASHINGTON – Murphy Hubbard, a Springfield, Mo., CPA, was sentenced on Sept. 7, 2011, to 42 months in prison for his mail fraud and tax evasion convictions, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. Sentence was imposed by District Court Judge Ortrie D. Smith in the Western District of Missouri and follows a plea of guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion previously entered by the defendant. Hubbard was remanded into custody immediately following the sentencing.

According to court documents, Hubbard owned and operated an accounting and tax business known as The Hubbard Group PC. Hubbard embezzled more than $400,000 from two trusts placed under his control by local families between 1998 and 2009.  The first of these trusts, created by Ms. Hazel Beatrice S. Hirst of Springfield designated four local charities as the beneficiaries of her life’s savings. The second trust, established by the heirs of Mr. Noel C. Rummens of Rogersville, Mo., was created for the express purpose of funding educational expenses for Mr. Rummens’s surviving heirs and relatives.

Rather than fulfilling the wishes of these families by faithfully executing their trust agreements, Hubbard instead took the vast majority of this money for himself, using it to pay personal expenses, to buy items such as automobiles and farm equipment and for travel.  Virtually all of the money taken from these trusts went unreported to the IRS, resulting in a tax loss of approximately $79,434.

In addition to the 42 month prison term, Judge Smith also ordered Hubbard to pay full restitution to the victims in this case, including $389,221 to the lawful representatives of the estate of Ms. Hirst and the Noel C. Rummens Educational Trust and $79,434 to the IRS.

The case was investigated by the IRS – Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Mitchell S. Bober, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich for the Western District of Missouri.

Additional information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found atwww.usdoj.gov/tax.