Suburban Chicago Accountant Guilty of Evading $3.4 Million in Federal and State Income Taxes

CHICAGO — A suburban Chicago accountant has pleaded guilty to a federal tax offense for willfully evading more than $3.4 million in federal and state income taxes.

IMRAN MAHMOOD, 56, of South Barrington, Ill., pleaded guilty Thursday to a tax evasion charge before U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis.  The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.  Judge Ellis set sentencing for June 11, 2024, at 10:30 a.m.

The guilty plea was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Justin Campbell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago.  Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI Chicago Field Office.  The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. King, Jr.

Mahmood was a certified public accountant who provided accounting services for an Illinois not-for-profit organization and a related company.  From 2011 to 2014, Mahmood obtained from the two entities approximately $9,084,984 – the majority of which came from the not-for-profit organization’s payroll accounts – and directed that the money be deposited with an entity Mahmood controlled.  Mahmood then used the deposited funds to make personal expenditures.

Mahmood attempted to conceal the scheme by mischaracterizing payments in the books and records of the entities from which he obtained the money.  Although Mahmood hired a tax professional to assist in filing Mahmood’s income tax returns, he failed to disclose to the professional all of the funds that he received and his ownership of the entity into which he deposited those funds.  This conduct caused the filing of false tax returns for the years 2011 to 2014. 

Mahmood admitted in a plea agreement that his conduct resulted in a total federal and state tax loss of approximately $3,468,523.