A chiropractor put his business in a trust. He admits he had no idea of how trusts work and he never performed the duties of a trustee. Given that I’m writing about this, I’m sure you know where this is headed.
Trouble.
And then he started selling his trusts to others. Givers gain, right? He even filed a lien against a client’s assets to frustrate the IRS.
The IRS wasn’t happy. Given that the government lost about $1 million in tax revenue ($248,000 directly related to the trust scheme), such a reaction was to be expected.
Our chiropractor decided to plead guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS. He’ll spend twenty months in Club Fed thinking about his wayward ways, and also pay a $10,000 fine.
The chiropractor was a licensee of Advanta Strategies and World Contractual Services. The proprietor of Advanta was been sentenced to 54 months in prison last year.
Our usual advice on trusts holds: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.