Date: June 15, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov On Monday, James Steele Saunders, of Kingman, Arizona, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John J. Tuchi to 12 months and 1 day in prison. Saunders previously pleaded guilty to Tax Evasion. Saunders evaded paying taxes for 15 years. Between 2003 and 2013, Saunders failed to file timely income tax returns with the IRS. In 2009, an IRS revenue officer was assigned to collect taxes owed by Saunders for tax year 2003 and to solicit the filing of tax returns for tax years 2004-2008. Saunders did not cooperate with the IRS and failed to pay what he owed. In 2014, Saunders began to funnel his income through third parties in an attempt to deceive the IRS. He continued this practice until February 2018. In addition to his prison sentence, the Court ordered Saunders to pay $180,079 in restitution to the IRS, which represents the federal income taxes Saunders failed to pay for tax years 2008 through 2017. IRS-Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation in this case. Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Stone, District of Arizona, Phoenix, handled the prosecution.
