CFO of Educational Services Company Gets 19 Months in Prison for Tax Crimes And Loss.

Department of JusticeU.S. Attorney’s Office

District of New Jersey

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

TRENTON, N.J. – A Pottersville, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to 19 months in prison for filing a false tax return and evading corporate taxes of American Tutor Inc., a company that offered supplemental educational services to New Jersey school districts, Acting U.S. Attorney William E. Fitzpatrick announced.

 

James Wegeler, 74, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson to one count of corporate tax evasion and one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return. Judge Thompson imposed the sentence today in Trenton federal court.

 

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

 

Wegeler was a certified public accountant who served as the vice president and chief financial officer of American Tutor. In 2013, Wegeler filed a return on behalf of American Tutor that contained materially false information in order to reduce American Tutor’s tax liability. Wegeler intentionally inflated American Tutor’s business expenses by claiming that it paid wages, tips and other compensation to its employees above and beyond what it had actually paid during the tax year 2012.

 

In addition, in 2011, Wegeler intentionally prepared a fraudulent tax return for an individual taxpayer that did not include substantial income the taxpayer had earned in tax year 2010. Wegeler admitted that his actions resulted in a total tax loss of $1,494,521 to the IRS.

 

In addition to the prison term, Judge Thompson sentenced Wegeler to three years of supervised release.

 

Acting U.S. Attorney Fitzpatrick credited special agents of the IRS, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jonathan D. Larsen, and special agents with the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Assistant Special Agent in Charge Debbi Mayer, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

 

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Special Prosecutions Division.
Topic(s): 

Tax

Component(s): 

USAO – New Jersey

Press Release Number: 

17-179