A Nevada man pleaded guilty today to evading payment of taxes he owed to the IRS.
According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately 2009 through 2019 Scott Lawrence owned and operated Turn Two Inc., a Nevada real estate company. In March 2010, the IRS levied Lawrence’s personal bank account to satisfy an existing tax debt he owed to the IRS. After learning of the IRS levy, Lawrence started taking steps to thwart the IRS’s collection efforts. He began depositing a small portion of his wife’s paycheck into the levied bank account and withdrew the remaining portion in cash. Beginning in 2011, Lawrence began depositing his wife’s entire paycheck and other earnings into a corporate bank account held by Turn Two, and used that account to pay most of his family’s personal living expenses. Lawrence also directed his attorney to pay taxes owed to the IRS on an intentionally overdrawn bank account and to send a materially misleading letter to the agency. In all, as a result of his evasive conduct, Lawrence owes more than $1.9 million in restitution to the IRS for his delinquent tax debt from 2005 through 2019.
Lawrence is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 26, 2023, and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for tax evasion. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada made the announcement.
IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.
Trial Attorneys Patrick Burns and Boris Bourget of the Tax Division are prosecuting the case.