A former Chicago attorney, Michael Abramson, has been sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison after being convicted of tax fraud, witness tampering, and violating a court order. Abramson, 76, from Wilmette, Illinois, was found guilty on all 15 counts by a jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago last year.
Prosecutors said Abramson provided more than $1 million in personal expenses to a woman with whom he had a romantic relationship. He then deducted these payments on his individual taxes by misrepresenting them as commissions or loans. Additionally, he listed the fraudulent loans as assets on corporate tax returns for a company where he held an ownership interest. The payments covered expenses related to a condominium in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, luxury cars, travel, shopping, and restaurants.
After being indicted, the court ordered Abramson not to contact witnesses involved in the case. Despite this order, weeks before his trial was set to begin, Abramson gave his bookkeeper—a key government witness—a copy of her previous court testimony with handwritten notes altering or scripting her answers and instructed her to review it before trial. Although he told her not to bring the notes when meeting law enforcement officials, she turned over the annotated transcript.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Manish S. Shah sentenced Abramson to 30 months in federal prison and imposed a $25,000 fine.
The sentencing was announced by Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Jason Bushey, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in Chicago; and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Richard M. Rothblatt and Edward A. Liva Jr., stated: “Defendant, an attorney practicing in the State of Illinois for decades, defrauded the IRS, repeatedly attempted to obstruct the IRS and FBI’s investigation into his misconduct, and tampered with a key witness in violation of a court order during his prosecution,” adding that “As an attorney well-versed in business, tax, and financial matters, defendant knew better yet sought to conceal and profit from personal payments to his mistress.”
