Fisher pioneered an industry that gave inflated tax deductions to syndicates of investors who promised not to develop land. — Bloomberg
Atlanta: A real estate developer who promoted green tax breaks was sentenced to 25 years in prison Tuesday for selling US$1.4bil in fraudulent charitable deductions to wealthy investors and cheating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) out of US$458mil in taxes.
Jack Fisher, 71, pioneered an industry that gave inflated tax deductions to syndicates of investors who promised not to develop land.
Prosecutors argued at a two-month trial that Fisher used exaggerated appraisals and backdated documents to try to fool the IRS. He earned tens of millions of US dollars, buying houses, an airplane and real estate.
US district judge Timothy Batten imposed the 25-year sentence and ordered Fisher to pay US$458mil in restitution. Batten also sentenced Fisher co-defendant James Sinnott to 23 years in prison and ordered him to pay US$444mil in restitution.
A federal jury in Atlanta convicted Fisher and Sinnott on Sept 22 after Batten removed a deliberating juror who told him she was “standing up for White people” amid conflicts over race and class within the panel.
Last week, prosecutors asked Batten to sentence Fisher to 30 years, calling him a “rational, cool and calculated criminal” who got increasingly brazen.
“Fisher, who by all accounts is a charismatic, well educated and intelligent man, used his talents to commit incomprehensible fraud,” prosecutors said in a memo to the judge.
“Fisher brazenly and unrepentantly spearheaded atrocious financial crimes that cost American taxpayers hundreds of millions of US dollars.”
After the hearing, Fisher attorney Claire Rauscher said: “We are disappointed with the sentence, which we think is out of line with other tax cases. We look forward to appealing the sentence and a host of other issues.”
Prosecutors sought 28 years for Sinnott, saying in a court filing that the fraud “exploded” after he joined Fisher’s conspiracy in 2013 and taxpayers claimed US$1.3bil in deductions. Sinnott’s lawyers asked for eight years.
In a court filing, his attorneys said: “This offence involved only one victim: the IRS. This case involved, at most, exploiting a legitimate tax deduction too aggressively.
“That is nothing to brag about, to be sure, but that behaviour is considerably different than preying on innocent individuals and depriving them of their savings.”
Prosecutors say Fisher guaranteed charitable deductions to investors of at least four times more than the amount they put into deals known as syndicated conservation easements. — Bloomberg
