BROOKLINE OPHTHALMOLOGIST PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX EVASION AND OBSTRUCTION OF IRS TAX AUDIT
BOSTON, Mass. - A Brookline man was convicted today in federal court on tax charges.
MARK S. HUGHES, 50, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William G. Young to tax evasion and obstruction of an IRS tax audit. Had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that from 2003-2009, HUGHES evaded paying taxes on millions of dollars of income causing a tax loss to the IRS of over $800,000.
HUGHES accomplished his tax evasion by diverting money that he was earning as a practicing ophthalmologist to a consulting firm he owned called Omega, and then through Omega he made over $2 million in contributions to a defined pension benefit plan. HUGHES knew that those $2 million in contributions were taxable income, but instead of paying taxes on that amount, he made contributions to a defined pension benefit plan. In 2008, during an IRS audit of Omega’s defined pension benefit plan, HUGHES obstructed that audit by communicating false information to the IRS about the nature of Omega’s business.
Judge Young scheduled sentencing for October 13, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. HUGHES faces up to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on the tax evasion charge, and up to three years in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on the obstruction charge.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation – Boston Field Office, announced today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Sternberg of Ortiz’s Health Care Fraud Unit.
