Former State Representative Erik Fresen Pleads Guilty for Failing to File Tax Return

Former State Representative Erik Fresen pled guilty today, before U.S. District Judge Robert N. Scola, for failing to file a federally required tax return.

Benjamin G. Greenberg, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Kelly R. Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), made the announcement.

Erik Fresen, 40, of Miami-Dade County, pled guilty to one count of failing to file a tax return, in violation of Title 26, United States Code, Section 7203. He faces a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

According to the court record, Fresen and his wife were required to file a tax return with the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) by April 15, 2012, because they had total gross income in 2011 of $270,236. This included Fresen’s income from a private company ($150,000), where Fresen was employed as a zoning consultant, and from the State of Florida ($28,891), where Fresen was employed as a legislative representative. Both of these entities reported Fresen’s income to the IRS on Form W-2 and withheld from Fresen’s wages federal income tax due and owing on the defendant’s earnings. Fresen also received non-Form W-2 income for consulting services he provided through a company named Neighborhood Strategies LLC and he failed to pay taxes on this unreported portion of his 2011 income, in the amount of $30,324. Despite knowing that he was required to file a tax return with the IRS based on these various sources of income, Fresen failed to timely file a tax return for the 2011 tax year.

Mr. Greenberg commended the investigative efforts of IRS-CI for their work on this case. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Harold E. Schimkat and Michael N. Berger.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.