LEXINGTON, KY - A Lexington business man who admitted he used hundreds of thousands of dollars of his clients’ money to purchase sports collector cards, was sentenced today to 41 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Karl S. Forester sentenced 46- year-old David Byron for wire fraud and attempting to evade paying income taxes. Judge Forester also ordered Byron to pay $688,530.89 in restitution to the victims of his crime.
Byron previously admitted that from 2006 through April 2010 he devised a scheme to defraud at least seven clients of his bookkeeping business. According to the plea agreement, Byron told them he would facilitate payment of their taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other state and federal government agencies. In reality, Byron wired money from their bank accounts to his bank account and then used the money to supplement his lifestyle and purchased $350,000 worth of baseball and sports collector cards.
Under federal law, Byron must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence, and, upon release, will be under the supervision of the United States Probation Office for three years.
Kerry B. Harvey, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Christopher A. Henry, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Paul R. Johnson, Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, jointly made the announcement today after the sentencing.
The investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service and the United States Secret Service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Dicken.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
