Hopedale Man Pleads Guilty to Filing a False Tax Return

BOSTON – John Faherty, 56, of Hopedale, Mass. pleaded guilty to an information charging him with filing a false federal income tax return.  U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV scheduled sentencing for April 17, 2015.

Faherty’s wife received substantial commissions as a manufacturers’ representative, promoting products from various factories to retailers.  Faherty, who compiled the income and expenses for his wife’s business, repeatedly withheld a portion of the commissions his wife received from their return preparer.  As a result, the returns prepared, and filed with the Internal Revenue Service were false in that they failed to report a significant portion of his wife’s income.  In total, the couple owed an additional $100, 678 on the income Faherty failed to report between 2007 and 2009.

The charging statute provides a maximum statutory sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.