Former Fargo Resident Has Been Sentenced in Connection with Income Tax Evasion

FARGO - US Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on December 2, 2016, Gary Spencer Smith, 61, Becker County, Minn. (formerly of Fargo, ND), was sentenced before U.S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson after pleading guilty in August 2016 to an Information charging him with Attempting to Evade and Defeat the Payment of Tax.  Judge Erickson sentenced Smith to 5 years of probation with conditions, including that he serve 12 months of home confinement with work release, and ordered him to pay restitution to the United States for the tax loss in the amount of $243,488.00, with credit for any tax payments he has made since May 2012.

“Tax crimes have mistakenly been referred to as victimless, but that position could not be more wrong since we all end up paying when someone attempts to evade our tax system”, stated IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Shea Jones.  "Gary Spencer Smith’s attempt to evade tax by failing to report his income, failing to file tax returns for 13 years, and failing to pay his taxes was an outright theft from the American taxpayers.”  From calendar years 1999 through 2010, Smith willfully attempted to evade and defeat the payment of a large part of his federal income tax due and owing to the United States, in the approximate total amount of $243,488.00, by failing to pay his taxes and concealing and attempting to conceal from the Internal Revenue Service his assets and their location, in violation of law.  Smith’s acts of evasion of the payment of his taxes included placing funds and property in the names of nominees and beyond the reach of process to collect the tax due and owing to the United States.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott J. Schneider prosecuted the case.