$1M Tax Evasion Leads To Prison For Camden County Financial Planner: Feds

CHERRY HILL, NJ — An independent financial planner from Cherry Hill will spend time in prison after pleading guilty to evading more than $1 million in federal taxes, federal officials said.

U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez sentenced 63-year-old John H. Ryan on Tuesday to 26 months in prison, according to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.

Rodriguez also ordered Ryan to pay $1,058,859 in restitution to the federal government, and sentenced him to two years of supervised release according to Sellinger's office. He had previously pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion, according to Sellinger.

Sellinger said Ryan worked to broker sales between clients and various financial businesses. One business used him as a financial contractor to receive client funds on the business's behalf, and to control one of its financial accounts, Sellinger said.

Ryan tried to evade paying his own federal income taxes by converting the business and client funds in that account to his own personal income, Sellinger said.

"By using the business account funds to satisfy expenses without the involvement of his personal bank accounts, Ryan was able to conceal the fact that he was withdrawing client funds and drawing checks on the business account in order to convert those funds to personal income," said Sellinger in a news release. "Ryan then purposely failed to report as income the cash he skimmed from the account, on which he was required to pay federal income taxes."

Ryan's defense counsel was Joseph Marrone Esq. of Cherry Hill, according to Sellinger's office.