Former Owner Of Boston Forensics Firm Gets Prison For Tax Evasion

BOSTON, MA — The former owner of a Boston forensic accounting firm was sentenced Monday in federal court in Boston for understating his personal income by hundreds of thousands of dollars on his income tax returns, the US District Court announced.

James Carey, 50, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs to 18 months in prison, one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $355,535. In September 2017, Carey pleaded guilty to two counts of making material misstatements on his 2009 and 2010 personal income tax returns.

Carey, a certified public accountant, owned Carey & Company, a forensic accounting firm in Boston. Carey & Company administered bank accounts on behalf of insurance companies into which the insurance companies and their clients could make deposits, and from which payments could be made on behalf of and to the insurance companies.

In November 2009, a customer of one of the insurance companies sent Carey & Company a payment of $594,217 intended for the insurance company, but during the months that followed, Carey transferred almost all of that money out of the account and used it for his own purposes.

The money Carey misappropriated from the insurance company was taxable income, which Carey failed to report on his personal income tax return. Then in 2010, Carey reported less than one-third of his business’s actual income on his personal income tax return, according to the court.

What's a forensic accountant? From Fcpas.org:

Forensic Accounting is the specialty practice area of accounting that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. “Forensic” means suitable for use in Court, and it is to that standard and potential outcome that forensic accountants generally have to work.

Previously on Patch:

Owner of Boston Forensic Accounting Firm Charged With Tax