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Press Release

Edgeworth Tax Evader Sentenced to Prison and Ordered to Pay $1.9 Million in Restitution

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH - A resident of Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 15 months’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release, and 300 hours of community service on his conviction of tax evasion, United States Attorney Cindy K. Chung announced today.

United States Senior District Judge Nora Barry Fischer imposed the sentence on Dean Britton, 57, of Edgeworth, Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court, from September 2013 through February 2017, Britton evaded the payment of at least $1,103,352 of federal income tax due and owing by him to the Internal Revenue Service, for the calendar years 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2009 through 2013. He evaded the payment of his taxes by, among other things, failing to file required income tax returns, placing personal bank accounts in nominee names, disguising personal earnings by depositing them into business accounts, and titling his personal residence in the name of a nominee to place it beyond the reach of the Internal Revenue Service. The Court ordered restitution in the amount of $1,994,483.35, which includes tax loss plus interest accrued on the tax due and owing.

Prior to imposing sentence, Judge Fischer stated that the case was one of the more egregious tax evasion cases that she had had over her tenure as a district court judge. She noted that Britton had substantial income during the subject years, most significantly more than $1.9 million in 2007 from which he could have paid taxes. The court imposed a below-guideline sentence, highlighting that the defendant agreed to plead guilty prior to being formally charged and thereby exhibited post-conduct rehabilitation warranting a lesser sentence of imprisonment.

Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn J. Bloch and former trial attorney Kimberley G. Ang of the Department of Justice, Tax Division, prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

United States Attorney Chung commended the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Britton.

Updated January 27, 2022

Topic
Tax