Green Tax Break Promoter Indicted as IRS Cracks Down on Illegal Deductions

(Bloomberg) -- A major promoter of land conservation deals and six others were indicted as the Internal Revenue Service escalated a crackdown on what it says are fraudulent syndicated deals that cost the U.S. billions of dollars in taxes.

The U.S. charged Jack Fisher, an accountant and developer, with creating deals that helped wealthy investors claim at least $1.3 billion in fraudulent charitable deductions, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta. The fraud involves land easements that bar development and rely on “grossly inflated” appraisals, prosecutors said.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing at least 28,000 taxpayers who claimed $21 billion in deductions through deals like those promoted by Fisher. Prosecutors are pursuing criminal cases beyond Fisher, the first promoter indicted in a five-year crackdown.

Fisher and other promoters used brokers, accountants, lawyers and tax preparers to sell deals known as syndicated conservation easements. From 2013 to 2020, Fisher sold at least 15 such deals to generate fraudulent tax deductions for investors, the U.S. said.

“These illegal tax shelters facilitated high-income taxpayers in claiming unwarranted and inflated charitable contributions in connection with the donation of a conservation easement over land,” prosecutors said in a 135-count indictment.

Fisher attorney, Russ Ferguson, said his client broke no laws in conserving almost 10,000 acres through tax deductions authorized by Congress and approved by the IRS.

“In doing so, Mr. Fisher has not only followed the law, but has acted in conformity with IRS regulations, agency guidance, and audit guidelines,” Ferguson said in an email.

Three Atlanta accountants who worked on Fisher's deals were previously charged: Herbert Lewis and the brothers Stein and Corey Agee.

The Agees pleaded guilty and are cooperating with prosecutors. They admitted backdating checks and documents to fool the IRS about when investments were made. Lewis was indicted in June and pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors amended his indictment to add Fisher and the other defendants.

Lewis attorney Brian Steel said his client “has maintained his innocence and we will fight the case in court.”

The promoters marketed the deals as “tax advantaged real estate investments,” but in reality they “were illegal tax shelters that allowed taxpayers to buy tax deductions at the end of a tax year -- and sometimes even after the tax year ended -- to illegally shelter their income from taxes for that year,” prosecutors said.

Those charged with Fisher were two in his firm, James Sinnott and Kate Joy, as well as appraisers Clayton Weibel and Terry Roberts. Another accountant who worked with Lewis, Victor Smith, also was charged.

Weibel's attorney, Guinevere Moore, said “the government has not alleged a single specific fact supporting any wrongdoing on his part.” Weibel is “eagerly looking forward to his day in court to establish his innocence.”

Attorneys for the other defendants couldn't be immediately identified.

Spending $60 Million

The crimes charged include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and aiding in the filing of false tax returns.

Fisher's fraud earned him about $60 million, the government said. He bought multi-million-dollar homes and properties, an airplane and a luxury recreation vehicle, prosecutors said. He also bought a show jumping horse and a Mercedes GLS 550, while spending $255,000 on a “Super Bowl LIII Hall of Fame Experience.”

Fisher is also charged with money laundering. Fisher, Lewis, Sinnott, and Joy are accused of subscribing to false tax returns.

Investors were guaranteed charitable tax deductions of at least four times what they put in, prosecutors said, meaning if someone invested $100,000, they'd get $400,000 in deductions. The indictment cites spreadsheets with easement valuations for appraisers to achieve.

“Weibel and Roberts then included identical or nearly identical inputs from the spreadsheets in the final appraisals,” the indictment said.

Jim Lee, chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation division, said in a statement that agents want to end abusive syndicated easements that allow “perpetrators of these schemes to enrich themselves while their wealthy clients skirt their tax obligations.”

Fisher, of Alpharetta, Georgia, grew up on a farm in western North Carolina and studied accounting at Mars Hill College before joining the IRS. He became a certified public accountant, worked for Price Waterhouse, and joined a firm that moved him to Atlanta to work with the National Football League's Falcons. He later joined an accounting firm with Edward Agee, father of the brothers.

The case is USA v. Lewis, 21-cr-231, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia (Atlanta).