Disbarred securities lawyer pleads guilty to evading $1.5M in taxes
A New York securities law attorney who moved to Florida in 1998 has pleaded guilty to tax evasion concerning $1.5 million the feds say he didn’t pay the government in income tax.
Court documents say William J. Reilly, 62, who practiced law in both states, used law firm bank accounts and a shell corporation to hide income and assets and avoid paying tax for multiple years beginning in 1997 and ending in 2007, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel and a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of Florida.
After representing a corporation as outside counsel for five years, Reilly exercised some of his stock options in 1997 and then sold the stock for $1.6 million, the government says. By January 1998 he had purchased two homes in Boca Raton, Florida, another residence in Chittenden, Vermont, and an oceanfront property in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. Only one property was held in his name.
Between 2005 and 2010, the news release continues, Reilly used law firm accounts and the shell corporation to receive personal income and directly pay personal expenses, including credit card bills, school tuition for his children and vehicle and mortgage bills.
Reilly faces a maximum prison term of five years when he is sentenced at a later date.
Reilly was disbarred in New York in 2012, says a FBI news release about a criminal securities fraud case he faced at that time. Reilly’s admission history in Florida, if any, is unclear and he does not appear to be listed on online records for the Florida Bar.
A subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission news release last year about two Caribbean Pacific Marketing Inc. executives also facing a securities case said Reilly helped run the now-defunct sun-care and skin-care company on a daily basis with one of the defendants. However, Reilly was not one of the defendants in that case.
The Daily Business Review (sub. req.) says Reilly was accused by the SEC in 2012 of participation in a penny stock fraud that allegedly involved filing a false and misleading registration statement that failed to disclose fully his ownership and administrative role in Caribbean Marketing.
The news articles and news releases don’t say what happened to the 2012 criminal case filed against Reilly by the SEC.
Reilly was suspended by consent from practicing before the Securities and Exchange Commission in a 2009 administrative ruling (PDF) and permanently denied permission to practice in a 2013 administrative ruling (PDF).
Related coverage:
Palm Beach Business.com (2012): “Boca Raton lawyer charged in securities scam “
South Florida Sun Sentinel (2012): “Boca Raton attorney arrested for securities fraud”
New York Times (2012): “Fraud Case Delayed By 2 Months”
