The orchestrators of a fraudulent tax shelter have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms, with two promoters receiving 25 and 23 years respectively for their roles in the organization and sale of the illicit program. In addition, two Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) have admitted guilt for their involvement in aiding the scheme.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division said, "Using inflated appraisals, backdated documents and other sham actions, these conspirators generated more than $1.3 billion in fraudulent syndicated conservation easement tax deductions, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses to the U.S. Treasury." He further noted that "the significant sentences and convictions obtained are the direct result of the skill and tenacity of career prosecutors and agents, whose multiyear investigation pulled back the curtain on this massive criminal scheme."

According to a press release by the Department of Justice, Jack Fisher and James Sinnott were identified as the main conspirators behind this scheme. Fisher has been involved in selling units in his abusive tax shelters since at least 2008. Sinnott joined him in 2013 and played a crucial role in rapidly expanding the fraudulent deduction amounts claimed from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). For his role in creating this illegal operation, Fisher was sentenced to 25 years while Sinnott received a 23-year sentence for his part in broadening it. With Sinnott's assistance, they managed to escalate this unlawful practice to over a billion dollars throughout several years. The two other CPAs who pleaded guilty are Victor Smith and William Tomasello, both based in Atlanta.

The same press release revealed that these fraudulent tax deductions resulted in losses exceeding $450 million for the IRS. Overall, during the course of this scheme, over $1.3 billion worth of fraudulent tax deductions were sold. The Department of Justice discovered evidence suggesting that Fisher and Sinnott promised high-end clients tax shelters that would allow them to deduct 4.5 times the amount they would have to pay the two accountants through deductions. Additional evidence indicated that Fisher, Sinnott and others involved received more than $41 million in payments from the sale of these tax shelters and backdated crucial documents to claim inflated tax deductions. Fisher has been ordered to pay $457,855,755 in restitution to the United States, while Sinnott must pay $443,760,035.