Oklahoma Attorney Pleads Guilty to Failing to Pay Employment Taxes

Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division Kathryn Keneally, U.S. Attorney Sanford C. Coats for the Western District of Oklahoma, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today that Larry Douglas Friesen pleaded guilty to three counts of willfully failing to pay employment taxes.

On March 21, 2014, a criminal information was filed in federal district court that alleged Friesen willfully failed to pay over to the IRS the federal income taxes and the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes due and owing during three tax quarters in the 2007 calendar year.  According to the criminal information, Friesen, who was the owner of the Law Office of Doug Friesen, deducted and collected federal income taxes and FICA taxes from his employees’ paychecks but failed to pay these taxes to the IRS.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Friesen agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $320,000 to the IRS.  Friesen faces a statutory maximum penalty of one year in prison per count, one year of supervised release per count and a maximum fine of $100,000 per count.  A sentencing hearing will be set by the court in approximately 90 days.

The case was investigated by Special Agents from IRS-Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Christopher Maietta and Sonia Owens of the Tax Division, with valuable support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma.