Judge: Accountant lost his ‘moral compass’ in tax evasion case, sentenced him to five years
Published 1:55 pm Thursday, May 23, 2019
A politically connected former accountant in Mississippi has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Carl Nicholson was sentenced Thursday.
The Hattiesburg American reports U.S. District Judge Keith Starrett said during sentencing that Nicholson had forgotten his “moral compass.”
A federal jury found Nicholson guilty in February of all 11 tax-related charges he faced.
Court documents say that from 2012 to 2014, Nicholson conspired with a client to falsely classify personal expenses as business expenses and that Nicholson filed false tax returns on the client’s behalf. He also was convicted of filing his own false personal income tax returns from 2012 through 2015.
Nicholson served on the state College Board from 1993 to 2004, after being chosen by Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice.
