Tax Fraud continues to be a crime that is heavily prosecuted by the DOJ. In 2020 there were over 590 convictions with an average prison sentence of 5 years. Tax Fraud is usually an investigation that comes from a whistleblower and has accurate information which is difficult to defend.
What can you do if you have a tax fraud charge? A personal sentence mitigation plan can help. Look at the case of Jason Angiulo. Angiulo plead guilty to tax fraud in 2021. In this case, Angiulo paid workers in his towing company under the table and did not report these wages to the IRS. In addition to the guilty plea, he was facing an uphill battle as his father Gennaro Angiulo is one of the most famous mafia bosses in the history of Boston. A combination of restitution, detailed character reference letters, and a personal sentence mitigation plan proved to be successful for Angiulo. Jason was sentenced to 42 months probation and restitution of 1,700,486. In his case, the government asked for 27 months. On top of this Jason was sentenced by Judge Woodlock who is known to follow the guidelines closely. So why the departure? Jason clearly had a sentence mitigation plan.
Now take Durvan Lewis sentences today in Boston to 2 years in prison and 2 million dollars restitution. The cases look pretty similar.So how does one defendant with almost exactly the same dollar loss gets 2 years in prison and the other gets probation? It is about being prepared. When you go in for sentencing are you going to be able to tell yourself you did everything possible for yourself and your family to prepare?
