Alsip Tobacco Lawsuit Attorney Accused of Tax Evasion

An Alsip attorney accused of not paying income taxes in over 20 years, including income he received from an unnamed law firm that represented the state in a lawsuit against various tobacco companies.

Daniel P. Soso, 63, who practices law in Chicago, was charged with one count of tax evasion on Thursday, according to a U.S. District Attorney news release.

The criminal complaint states that Soso failed to pay approximately $800,000 in income taxes between 1993 and 2013, including fees he received from a 1996 agreement with the Illinois Attorney General and several law firms to help the state recover damages it incurred in a lawsuit against tobacco companies.

The state agreed to settle the case in November 1998 in exchange for a projected $9.1 billion in payouts from tobacco companies over a 20-year period for tobacco product sales to illinois residents. The law firms that assisted in the lawsuit would share a contingency fee equal to ten percent of the state’s total monetary recovery.

The criminal complaint maintains that Soso took a variety of evasive actions, including hiding income in his girlfriend’s and relatives’ bank accounts and lying to the Internal Revenue Service about his sources of income. Soso also allegedly circumvented levies initiated by the IRS with third parties to recoup taxes from him.

Soso has been a practicing attorney since 1979 and has no disciplinary history, according to state records.

The Alsip attorney told the Chicago Tribune that he has not yet seen the indictment. Sosa will be arraigned in U.S. District Court at a later date. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of five years and a $100,000 fine.

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