Prominent Lawyers Charged with Failing to File Personal Income Tax Returns
Two New York attorneys who reportedly have been practicing as partners of well-known law firms and a Long Island personal injury lawyer have been charged in state court with failing to file personal income tax returns. The cases were brought, officials say, as part of a stepped-up effort to enforce the law prompted by the state’s financial difficulties, reports the New York Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.).
David Mollon, 47, who is identified as a partner of Winston & Strawn but is not currently listed on the firm’s online attorney roster, is facing a third-degree criminal tax fraud case for allegedly failing to file a 2008 personal income tax return. Prosecutors, who say he also failed to file state tax returns in 2006 and 2007, contend that he earned some $1.79 million and owes more than $117,000 in taxes for this three-year period, the article states.
Kelly Talcott, 50, who is identified as a partner of Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge but is not listed on that firm’s online lawyer directory, is also charged with third-degree criminal tax fraud concerning his alleged repeated failure to file state personal income tax returns. He is accused of failing to file from 2002 to 2005 and in 2008, a period in which he reportedly earned some $2.68 million and for which he owes over $111,000 in tax, the legal publication reports.
Also charged is personal injury attorney Dennis O’Leary, 57, of Long Island, who is accused of fifth-degree criminal tax fraud for allegedly repeated failure to file. He is accused of failing to pay over $23,000 in tax due on $763,000 he earned from 2004 to 2008.
The article doesn’t include any comment from the defendants. Requests for comment made by the ABA Journal to Winston & Strawn and Edwards Angell did not receive an immediate response.
