Former Sevierville, Tenn., Resident Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion

The Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Jimmie Duane Ross, of Lehi, Utah, and formerly of Sevierville, Tenn., was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison based on his Aug. 7, 2013 conviction of five counts of tax evasion following a jury trial.  The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee also sentenced Ross to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term and ordered him to pay restitution of $532,389.

According to the indictment and evidence produced at trial, Ross won a monetary award of approximately $840,000 in 1999 after arbitration of an employment dispute with a former employer.  Ross then proceeded to file a false mortgage on his residence, file a false lien on his vehicle, deal extensively in cash and direct funds to an offshore account in order to evade paying the full amount he owed in income tax for 1999.  In addition, from 2004 through 2007, Ross earned commission income for referring clients to what appeared to be an investment company based in Nevis and evaded his taxes by using nominees and other means.

The case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Kevin Lombardi and Kimberly Shartar of the Tax Division.

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