Former Lewisboro Town Justice Sentenced To Six Months In Prison For Tax Evasion

Audrey Strauss, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that MARC A. SEEDORF, a Carmel attorney, was sentenced in White Plains federal court to six months in prison for tax evasion.  SEEDORF previously pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel, who imposed today’s sentence.

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Marc Seedorf, a member of the judiciary and former Assistant District Attorney, knew well his obligations under the law to file income tax returns and pay tax when due.  Instead, he chose to conceal assets and provide false information to the IRS.  For his admitted crime, Seedorf will now serve a six-month prison sentence and be compelled to pay his unpaid taxes.”

According to the allegations contained in the Information to which SEEDORF pled guilty, court filings, and statements made in public court proceedings:   

During the relevant time period of 2009 through October 2019, SEEDORF was a Town Justice for the Town of Lewisboro, New York, and an Administrative Law Judge for Westchester County.  SEEDORF also received income from the private practice of law. 

SEEDORF did not file U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns for the tax years 2005 through 2015, despite being required to do so.  As a result of the income SEEDORF earned from 2005 through 2008, he incurred a federal income tax liability of approximately $323,000, including interest and penalties (“SEEDORF’s 2005 Through 2008 Tax Liability”).  As a result of the income SEEDORF earned from 2009 through 2013, he incurred a federal income tax liability of approximately $164,000, including interest and penalties (“SEEDORF’s 2009 Through 2013 Tax Liability”). 

In early August 2012, SEEDORF received $1,524,116 in connection with the settlement of a civil lawsuit.  At SEEDORF’s request, the law firm that represented SEEDORF in the lawsuit (“Law Firm-1”) deposited the settlement proceeds into its attorney trust account, to be disbursed to SEEDORF at an unspecified later date.  In the following years, SEEDORF instructed Law Firm-1 to disburse portions of the settlement proceeds to accounts other than his personal bank account, including his law firm’s operating account, his law firm’s attorney trust account, and his brother-in-law’s personal account, in order to disguise the source of funds he used to make payments to the IRS and other creditors, and the existence of the remainder of the settlement proceeds.

From January 2010 through June 2013, the IRS attempted to collect SEEDORF’s 2005 Through 2008 Tax Liability, including by mailing letters to SEEDORF and requesting documents and records from SEEDORF.  SEEDORF failed to provide any records to the IRS or make any payment toward SEEDORF’s 2005 Through 2008 Tax Liability. 

In June 2013, after the IRS initiated a process to place a levy upon an investment account held by SEEDORF, he instructed Law Firm-1 to wire $400,000 of the settlement proceeds to his own law firm’s attorney trust account, from which he then paid his outstanding 2005 Through 2008 Tax Liability.  During a conversation with an IRS Revenue Officer concerning the source of these funds, SEEDORF falsely stated that he had borrowed the funds from his own law firm’s trust account.

During a December 2014 IRS interview, an IRS Revenue Agent asked SEEDORF whether he had received any non-taxable income during the period from 2009 through 2013.  During the interview, SEEDORF never disclosed the 2012 law suit settlement or the existence of the more than $540,000 of settlement proceeds that remained in Law Firm-1’s attorney trust account at that time.

In all, SEEDORF caused the IRS to incur losses of over $200,000, including penalties and interest.

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In addition to the prison term, Judge Seibel ordered SEEDORF, 64, of South Salem, New York, to serve three years of supervised release, and to pay a fine in the amount of $55,000.  SEEDORF has already paid $207,219 in restitution to the IRS.

Ms. Strauss praised the outstanding work of IRS Criminal Investigation in this case.

This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Coffman is in charge of the prosecution.