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Press Release
EVANSVILLE – Joseph H. Hogsett, the United States Attorney, announced today that Gregory P. Stodghill, age 46, of Vincennes, has been convicted and sentenced by U.S. District Chief Judge Richard L. Young to 60 months (5 years, the statutory maximum) in federal prison after admitting that he engaged in tax evasion that cost taxpayers more than $407,000. He was remanded into custody immediately.
“Tax evasion schemes make victims of all taxpayers, with millions of dollars in losses every year,” Hogsett said. “That is why our office is working with IRS Criminal Investigations and our law enforcement partners to hold fully accountable those who refuse to play by the rules.”
Court documents reveal that Stodghill engaged in a series of complicated financial schemes that funneled outside investor funds through a number of off-shore shell companies. As a result of these and other financial transactions including a real estate flipping scheme conducted in Evansville in 2006, Stodghill generated over one million dollars in personal income, although he did not pay income taxes for this income in 2006 or 2008.
When initially interviewed by case agents, Stodghill falsely claimed that his tax preparer had prepared all of his tax returns and that he had filed them. After the interview, the defendant contacted his return preparer and explained that the IRS and FBI had contacted him and he needed to get his delinquent tax returns prepared. The defendant never provided sufficient accurate documentation for the return preparer to complete his returns. Following this scheme, Stodghill filed a false 2006 federal income tax return and never filed one for 2008. Stodghill later filed a number of frivolous documents with the IRS claiming he had no tax liability.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who prosecuted the case for the government, Stodghill was ordered to fully repay the $407324 lost to taxpayers, and must serve three years of federally-supervised release at the end of his prison term. Under federal law, the defendant is required to serve at least 85% of his prison term within a federal correctional facility.