Butler County business owner pleads guilty to federal tax evasion

A Butler County man is facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal income tax evasion in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.

According to court documents, David Keith Fraley, 53, of Middletown, attempted to evade the payment of income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service and the assessment of income taxes associated with his 2009 through 2012 income tax returns.

Fraley stopped deposits of his income in his bank accounts once the IRS started withdrawing funds from his accounts to recover overdue taxes.

According to court documents, the IRS calculated that Fraley owed $1,071,382 for tax years 2007, 2008 and 2009. Fraley spoke to the IRS Revenue Officer and asked for an extension to file the 2009 tax return. The IRS said Fraley understood that the it would institute levies toward the funds held in his bank accounts to recover the amount.

Fraley transferred ownership of income to his business and brother to avoid those payments, according to court documents. Initially, Fraley called his contractor and told them not to issue any income in his name and Social Security Number, but to issue the income in his business name and Employer Identification Number.

Fraley stopped making deposits into his business bank account, whose funds the IRS used for amounts owed, and started making deposits into his brother’s bank account. He later asked the contractor to not issue any more income in his business name and EIN and to issue the income in his brother’s name and SSN, according to court documents.

The total tax loss for the 2009 though 2102 income tax years was $337,213.

“David Fraley took extensive measures in an effort to hide his income and to defeat his tax liabilities, but the IRS was not fooled and this degree of trickery, dishonesty and deceit will be punished,” said Bryant Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.

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