Former Chief Operating Office of Summit Pain Specialists Sentenced to Prison for Making and Subscribing False Tax Returns

CLEVELAND – Richard Gould, 67, of Strongsville, Ohio, was sentenced on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, to seven days in prison by U.S. District Judge J. Philip Calabrese after Gould pleaded guilty to a two-count indictment that charged him with making and subscribing false tax returns.

According to court documents, during the tax years of 2014 to 2016, Gould was employed as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) of Summit Pain Specialists (“SPS”), a pain management clinic. During his time at the pain clinic, as COO for SPS, Gould directed employees to issue checks, direct deposits, and bank transfers directly to him to ensure he was treated as an independent contractor rather than as an employee. Gould prepared the joint individual federal income tax returns that he and his wife electronically filed with the IRS for 2014 and 2015 The IRS determined the tax returns to be fraudulent because Gould listed himself as unemployed and did not report any of his taxable income during those years SPS closed in 2016 due to allegations of sexual assault and medical misconduct by its doctors.

Gould failed to report $469,640.56 of income for tax years 2014 and 2015, resulting in $184,195 in additional tax owed to the IRS.
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigations (CI) and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian M. McDonough.