Monday, December 10, 2012

CA: Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

A Santa Monica attorney was sentenced Monday to three years in prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in restitution for schemes to evade taxes and misappropriate client fees, according to the IRS, which investigated the case.

Robert M.L. Baker III, who owns a law firm on 20th Street and Wilshire Boulevard, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release following imprisonment.

Baker, 46, pleaded guilty in January to “willfully subscribing and filing false tax returns in a conspiracy to commit tax fraud,” said IRS Special Agent Felicia McCain.

According to the plea agreement, Baker admitted that he “along with others devised a scheme to misappropriate client fees and settlements in order to evade payment of his tax obligations,” McCain said.

Judge Otis D. Wright ordered Baker to pay $1,140,879 in restitution to the IRS and $916,000 in restitution to a victim.

Full Article and Source:
Santa Monica Attorney Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

3 comments:

Nancy said...

Three years sounds like a good start.

Anonymous said...

According to the plea agreement, Baker admitted that he “along with others devised a scheme to misappropriate client fees and settlements in order to evade payment of his tax obligations,” McCain said.

How many others in positions of trust are scheming?

Betty said...

I like it that he got ordered to pay resitution.