IRS: Vienna Attorney Sentenced for Tax Fraud

An attorney from Vienna, who failed to pay his taxes for three years and instead spent hundreds of thousands on personal expenses for himself and his family, was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release for willful failure to pay federal income taxes, according to a news release from the IRS. The court also ordered him to pay $451,955 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

William M. Weisberg, 53, pled guilty Dec. 13 to three counts of willful failure to pay personal income taxes, the IRS said. According to court documents, from 2008 through 2010, Weisberg was a practicing attorney who filed his tax returns for those years, but failed to pay his taxes for 2008 and 2010, and paid only a portion of his taxes for 2009.

During that same period, however, the IRS said he paid:

• approximately $250,000 to rent a house in Vienna
• $150,000 for private and parochial schools for his two children
• $35,000 for maid service
• $130,000 for travel and entertainment

In addition, when the IRS tried to work with Weisberg in 2010 to obtain the money he owed, Weisberg falsified a document from his law firm, which told the IRS that the firm was withholding money from his paychecks to give to the IRS, when, in fact, no money was being withheld, the IRS said.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; and, Thomas J. Kelly, Special Agent in Charge, Washington, D.C. Field Office, IRS-Criminal Investigations, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Hanly prosecuted the case.