Former General Counsel for Major Public Company Sentenced to Eight Months in Prison for Criminal Tax Offenses

NEWARK, N.J. - A Morris County, New Jersey man, and former general counsel for a large public corporation, was sentenced today to eight months in prison for willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced.

John Goggins, 63, of Chatham, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa to a four-count information charging him with willfully failing to file federal income tax returns for tax years 2018 through 2021. Judge Espinosa imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Goggins was a former senior vice-president and general counsel of a large publicly traded corporation. For the years 2018 through 2021, Goggins earned total gross income of $54 million from wages, restricted stock awards, the exercise of annual nonqualified stock options, interest, dividends, and gains from stock sales. Nevertheless, Goggins failed to file federal income tax returns for those years.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Espinosa sentenced Goggins to one year of supervised release, ordered restitution to the IRS of $3.11 million, which has already been paid, and fined him $40,000.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan with the investigation leading to the sentence.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shontae D. Gray of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark, and Trial Attorney Kenneth Vert of the Justice Department's Tax Division.