A federal grand jury indicted a group of Atlanta certified public accountants, including one already facing federal fraud charges, for allegedly orchestrating a $1.3B conservation easement scam.
In a 135-count indictment unsealed Tuesday, accountants Jack Fisher, James Sinnott, Herbert Lewis, Yekaterina Lopuhina (aka Kate Joy) and Victor Smith, along with property appraisers Clayton Weibel and Walter Roberts II, were charged with conducting a conspiracy to market and sell “fraudulent charitable contribution tax deductions” to high-income clients in the form of conservation easements.
The indictment was handed down by a grand jury in Atlanta, and the charges include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, preparing false tax returns as it relates to the easement tax shelters and filing false income tax returns. Fisher, who along with Sinnott was cast as the primary instigators of the scheme, was also charged with several counts of money laundering. All could face more than a decade in prison, according to the Department of Justice.
While a legal tax deduction, the Internal Revenue Service has long complained about conservation easement tax scams and in recent years has vowed to crack…
