A suburban Chicago businessman is heading to prison for one year after pleading guilty to underreporting his income by more than $1.47 million on tax returns. Jeremiah Johnson, proprietor of New Beginnings Academy, New Beginnings Child Development, and Epic Transportation, did not fully disclose his earnings between the years of 2015 and 2020, resulting in the filing of materially false individual income tax returns.
Operating the trio of businesses, Johnson, 46, from Frankfort, Ill., filed individual tax returns that neglected to report his substantial business-derived income, while admitting to lesser W2 wages and some rental income. Adding to his tax woes, Johnson also failed to file any corporate tax returns, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois, or remit the necessary withholdings for federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare taxes during the period under scrutiny.
Earlier this year, admitting to a federal charge of filing a false tax return, Johnson was fined $10,000 and must additionally cough up $123,391 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, as detailed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois. The sentencing, handed down by U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly on Wednesday, caps Johnson's admission of guilt in the tax evasion case.
Announcing the sentence on Wednesday was Morris Pasqual, who is Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Ramsey E. Covington, stepping in as Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Chicago Field Office. Following the government's representation by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen Totten and the former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick J. King, Jr., Johnson is now slated to serve his prison term.
