Old Man, Former Texas Legislator and Lawyer Ron Wilson is Found Guilty of Evadin’ $750k in Taxes

Former Houston lawmaker Ron Wilson pleads guilty to federal tax evasion

OCT 27, 2022 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: OCT 29, 2022

Ron Wilson, a former Democratic lawmaker who served as a Houston state representative between 1977 and 2004, pleaded guilty on Thursday for trying to dodge federal income tax payments spanning over two decades.

Wilson pleaded guilty to one count of federal tax evasion. The charge could result in up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, based on his plea bargain agreement filed in the Texas Western District Court. He has also agreed to pay close to $800,000 plus interest, which will be determined at his sentencing, to the Internal Revenue Service as restitution.

According to court filings, Wilson did not pay federal income tax in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, which amounted to almost $500,000 in owed taxes and penalties. He also concealed and misled the IRS about his income between 2011 and 2019, the documents say.

One of the main ways in which he hid his income was by depositing funds into an account set up by his law firm, Ron Wilson & Associates, that was intended to hold his clients’ assets for a short period of time. According to his plea bargaining agreement, Wilson told a bank teller in 2011 that he was using the account to avoid taxes.

The agreement mentions examples of how Wilson used the account. After a Houston Rockets settlement agreement in 2003 gave him regular payments until 2018, he funneled about $100,000 of those funds into the law firm’s account during a seven-year period. And when he worked as the director of the Texas Department of Transportation’s civil rights office between 2012 and 2015, he also deposited over $154,000 of his salary into the account during the first two years on the job.

Court filings show that Wilson also used his mother-in-law’s trust to hide income by “depositing checks into the trust’s accounts and then converting the funds into a cashier’s check” to pay for his personal expenses.

In March 2014, Wilson made a $182,500 deposit that resulted from the sale of a Lamborghini into one of the trust’s bank accounts. The same year, he bought an antique gate and side fence panels for $17,000 via a cashier’s check.

When he was interviewed by an IRS officer in 2015, Wilson listed his government pension as his only source of income without disclosing the funds from the Houston Rockets settlement or the antique gate as part of his assets.

Wilson’s sentencing hearing has yet to be set. As part of the plea bargain agreement, the government has recommended giving him a lower sentence.

During his long tenure as a lawmaker, Wilson was a high-profile figure whom the Houston Chronicle once described as being “full of contradictions [and] controversy.” He helped pass a Republican redistricting bill in 2004, after previously spearheading the successful effort to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a state holiday.

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Former Texas State Representative Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion
Concealed Pension Checks and Other Assets from IRS to Avoid Paying Nearly $800,000 Tax Debt

A former member of the Texas House of Representatives pleaded guilty today to evading payment of outstanding taxes he owed to the IRS. The plea was entered before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan Hightower.

OCT 27, 2022 | REPUBLISHED BY LIT: OCT 29, 2022

LIT Commentary: Notice there is no link to indictment or federal case in Federal Court by ‘The Justice Dept”

According to court documents and statements made in court, from approximately May 2011 through October 2019, Ronald Ray Wilson, formerly of Austin, willfully attempted to evade payment of income taxes he owed to the IRS.

From 1977 through 2004 Wilson was an elected member of the Texas House of Representatives.

In 1995, he also created a law firm, Ron Wilson & Associates.

After leaving the Texas House of Representatives, Wilson earned a monthly pension from his service and continued to work as a lawyer.

In September 2008 and February 2011, Wilson agreed to two U.S. Tax Court decisions finding that he owed outstanding taxes to the IRS.

After stipulating to these judicial decisions, Wilson took steps to conceal his income and assets from the IRS to avoid payment of the overdue taxes.

Specifically, Wilson utilized his law firm’s trust account – which was limited to holding client funds – to conceal his personal assets by depositing his monthly salary into this account.

Furthermore, to avoid an IRS levy placed on his personal bank account, Wilson ceased direct deposit of his monthly pension from the House of Representatives and instead ensured that he would receive physical checks.

He deposited some of these checks into accounts belonging to a trust for which he served as trustee, then converted the deposited funds into cashier’s checks for his own use.

In total, Wilson caused a tax loss to the IRS of approximately $794,632.

Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.

A federal district court judge will first accept Wilson’s guilty plea and then determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case.

Assistant Chief David Zisserson and Trial Attorney Ashley Stein of the Tax Division is prosecuting the case.
Topic(s):
Tax
Component(s):
Tax Division
Press Release Number:
22-1166