Hoover Businessman Sentenced To Prison For Tax Evasion

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A Hoover salesman was sentenced to 24 months in prison Tuesday for tax evasion, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona for the Northern District of Alabama.

Scott Butler, who authorities say stopped paying taxes in 1993, pleaded guilty those charges in March.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Butler was an automobile industry consultant and sold automobile warranties as an independent salesman. In 1993, Butler stopped filing tax returns and attended tax defier meetings and purchased tax defier materials.

Starting in 1998, Butler used several Nevada nominee corporations to receive his income and conceal it from the IRS. In or around 1999, Butler moved hundreds of thousands of dollars to bank accounts in Switzerland and hid his assets in offshore insurance policies held in the name of non-U.S. insurance providers, thus disguising his ownership of the funds, court records show. Such accounts, which generally are used as investment vehicles, are commonly known as “insurance wrappers.”

In 2014, Butler converted some of his insurance wrappers into precious metals, which were shipped to Butler and another individual in the United States, according to records. Some of those precious metals were given to friends and family for safekeeping. In total, Butler caused a tax loss to the IRS of $1,093,400.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Annemarie Carney Axon ordered Butler to serve three years of supervised release and to pay approximately $1,093,400 in restitution to the United States.