Fort Smith Chiropractor Sentenced in Federal Tax Crime

            Fayetteville, Arkansas – A Fort Smith chiropractor was sentenced today to serve 17 months in prison, followed by one year of supervised release announced Acting U.S. Attorney Kenneth Elser and Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

            “Today’s sentence sends a clear message that the department, working with its law enforcement partners, will aggressively pursue and prosecute those individuals who willfully seek to obstruct the Internal Revenue Service and evade their tax obligations,”  said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo.

            According to court documents, Philip Roberts, 60, of Fort Smith, Arkansas, had an outstanding federal income tax liability of over $2,000,000, for tax years 1991 through 2004.  In 2008, Roberts filed a series of false and fraudulent documents with the IRS in an effort to obstruct and impede the tax laws, including filing false financial instruments that claimed millions of dollars of transactions with both the Secretary of the Treasury and the IRS Commissioner, and filing forms that falsely reported payments to the IRS.

            Roberts pleaded guilty on June 22 to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the IRS.  U.S. District Judge Timothy L. Brooks of the Western District of Arkansas also ordered Roberts to pay a $3,000 fine.  This is Roberts’ second conviction for income tax related offenses.  In 2000, after a jury trial, Roberts was convicted of two counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns and sentenced to serve 16 months in prison.

            “An important part of our mission is to protect the integrity of the Federal tax system,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “TIGTA will vigorously investigate individuals who attempt to corruptly interfere with the administration of the Internal Revenue laws through fraudulent means, and will do everything within its power to ensure that those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

            Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo and Acting U.S. Attorney Elser commended the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, who investigated the case, as well as Trial Attorneys Robert Kemins and David Zisserson of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Davis of the Western District of Arkansas, who prosecuted the case.

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            Related court documents may be found on the Public Access to Electronic Records website @ www.pacer.gov