The owner of a Maryland tax-preparation business was sentenced to 17-and-a-half years in prison for orchestrating a $22-million tax-evasion scheme.
Irvin H. Catlett Jr., 64, of Crownsville, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Greenbelt.
He was convicted by a jury in November. Catlett, who owned Tax Resolutions in Laurel, was convicted of paying an Internal Revenue Service officer to provide taxpayer information and pose as an inside man to convince clients that the tax shelter was safe from prosecution.
Prosecutors say 275 fraudulent tax returns were filed as part of the scheme, totaling $22,009,021 in losses, and causing the government to lose more than $3.8 million in tax revenue.
Mark Hunt — the IRS officer — and two other tax preparers have pleaded guilty in the scheme
