A Connecticut attorney who reportedly failed to file tax returns for multiple years and owed more than $3.1 million in taxes, penalties and interest was sentenced to almost a year in federal prison.
Michael Simes, 51, of Newtown, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 10 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. On March 9, Simes pleaded guilty to three counts of failure to file a tax return.
Court records show that, for the 2013 tax year and the 2016 through 2022 tax years, Simes reportedly failed to file U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, “resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of $1,876,307 on gross income of more than $5.6 million.”
For the 2016 through 2020 tax years, Simes reportedly requested filing extensions until October of each year and still failed to file and pay the taxes that he owed, according to court records.
Simes also reportedly filed tax returns for the 2012, 2014, and 2015 tax years but paid only “a fraction of taxes reported as due, thereby incurring substantial penalties and interest,” court records show.
Simes was ordered to pay restitution of the current outstanding balance of $2,871,676, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Simes is currently released on a $40,000 bond and is required to report to prison on Jan. 20, 2027.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.