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An indictment alleges that Michael Goldner, 51, of Paoli, accrued approximately $1,858,740 in tax debt between 2013 and 2017 and in 2016 involved himself in a scheme to avoid payments, according to Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.
Goldner allegedly had his employer make payments to Goldner's wife to pay for personal expenses including the mortgage on the house where his family resided, rent for an apartment where he resided, service for his pool, dance classes for his daughter, and a vacation for his family, Williams said.
It is also alleged that Golder had his employer make payments towards his $5 million restitution from the 2016 case, and failed to report the additional income on his 2016 and 2017 tax returns, Williams noted.
“Goldner’s alleged scheme to hide his true income victimized honest taxpayers in two ways: first, by evading more than $1.8 million in tax liability to the IRS, and second, by avoiding having to make additional payments towards the large balance (more than $4 million) he still owed in court-ordered restitution from his previous conviction on similar charges,” Williams said.
“Clearly this defendant has not learned that you cannot outrun the IRS. Anyone who is contemplating similar fraud should view this case as a warning that it will not succeed.”
“If you keep breaking the law, the FBI and our partners will keep coming after you,” Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, Michael J. Driscoll said.
“Willfully defrauding the government and cheating honest taxpayers isn’t ‘creative accounting.’ It’s a federal crime.”
“The American tax system provides government services critical to our people,” Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation, Joleen Simpson said.
“Every time someone cheats the tax system, the burden of providing vital services increases on taxpayers who pay their fair share.”
If convicted, Goldner faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a three years period of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Ignall.
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