Urbana, Ill. – A Danville, Illinois man, Brian K. Wasson, has been sentenced and taken into federal law enforcement custody to begin serving his prison sentence. On June 29, Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey ordered that Wasson serve 180 months (15 years) in federal prison after being convicted of conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. According to court documents, Wasson, 47, was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $600,148. Wasson was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at the conclusion of the sentencing hearing.

Following a bench trial held in March 2009, Wasson was convicted of conspiring with others to market and sell sham trusts and financial packages to taxpayers. The government presented evidence at trial that the object of the conspiracy was to defraud the U.S. by attempting to fraudulently conceal taxpayers’ assets and income from the IRS and illegally reduce or eliminate their income tax liability.

The government presented evidence that Wasson used his business, Midwest Alternative Planning, in Danville, to promote the fraudulent tax scheme of the Aegis Company, a Palos Hills, Illinois company. Trial evidence also showed that Wasson conspired with others to assist 12 taxpayers, using the Aegis system, to fraudulently conceal more than $16 million in income from the IRS, resulting in a tax loss to the U.S. of more than $6 million and resulting in fees and commissions for Wasson and his company of more than $490,000.

A co-defendant, John P. Wolgamot, also of Danville, pled guilty in August 2008 to one count of aiding the filing of a false income tax return and was sentenced on May 15, 2009, to 12 months and one day in federal prison.

The charges were investigated by the IRS-Criminal Investigation Division. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy A. Bass.