Fayette County business owner pleads guilty to filing false tax return

Date: Sept. 23, 2024

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Pittsburgh, PA - A resident of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court to a charge of willfully filing a false tax return, United States Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced today.

James E. Frey Jr. of Uniontown pleaded guilty to one count before United States District Judge Marilyn J. Horan.

In connection with the guilty plea, the Court was advised that Frey deposited checks from his businesses' customers into his personal bank accounts instead of his businesses' accounts and kept for himself the proceeds of checks made payable from his companies to other individuals that were never actually sent. Frey's personal income tax returns for years including 2019 were false in that, as Frey knew, they failed to report the income from those checks.

Judge Horan scheduled sentencing for January 14, 2025. The law provides for a total sentence of up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, or both. Under the federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed is based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendant.

Assistant United States Attorney William B. Guappone is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.

The Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation that led to the prosecution of Frey.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.