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Deron Freeman, a resident of Glastonbury in Hartford County, was found guilty on Monday, April 18, of three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return and four counts of failure to pay income tax, according to Leonard Boyle, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Freeman, age 47, owned a law office in Hartford, where he primarily practiced in the areas of personal injury and criminal law, Boyle said.
The US Attorney's Office said Freeman fell "severely behind" in paying his federal taxes between 2006 and 2010, and did not pay the overdue balance despite notices from the IRS.
The IRS also initiated a collection action against him for the tax years between 2007 and 2009, Boyle said.
After Freeman entered into a payment plan in 2011, he started using a bank account in a third party's name to hold hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to protect the funds from the IRS scrutinizing them, according to the report.
Freeman made had made enough tax payments to the IRS by June of 2021, and the IRS removed a lien against him for the 2008 tax year.
He then transferred more than $248,000 from the third-party account to his personal money market account, Boyle said.
He filed false tax returns for the 2011, 2012, and 2013 tax years, and failed to pay taxes on about $950,000 in income for those years, the US Attorney's Office reported.
Boyle said Freeman also did not pay "significant taxes" owed for 2014 and 2015.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Freeman spent money on cars, watercraft, and about $1.5 million constructing a home, Boyle said.
His sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
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