The Long and Short of It – This Attorney is Going to Jail

New Jersey attorney Douglas M. Long pleaded guilty to evading more than $250,000 in federal taxes on income generated from his law firm. Long, managing partner of Long & Marmero LLP, had primary control over the firm’s finances and supervised the firm’s bookkeeper. He used the company’s bank accounts to pay for school tuition payments for his children, utilities and service fees for his homes, student loan payments for himself and his wife and other personal expenses.

Long had the firm’s bookkeeper classify those payments as law firm business expenses to avoid his tax obligations. In addition, he declared that his personal tax returns for tax years 2012 through 2015 were true and accurate when they were not.

During that time Long concealed over $800,000 in personal income and evaded payment of over $250,000 in taxes owed to the IRS, including $368,000 in income and $120,000 in taxes for tax year 2014.

This was not Long’s first encounter with the law. In 2016 he was reprimanded by the state’s Office of Attorney Ethics for not supervising a bookkeeper who used almost $200,000 in client deposits that should have been held in trust, for firm expenses including overdraft fees and paying back personal loans.

Long’s current tax evasion charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a potential fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. In addition to the guilty plea, Long agreed to pay restitution to the IRS.