Date: Nov. 9, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov DETROIT — Albert Morrison was sentenced today to 45 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to accepting bribes from a local contractor and tax evasion, United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison announced. Ison was joined in the announcement by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller, Detroit Field Office; Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan; and John Woolley, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Education, Office of Inspector General. Morrison was sentenced after pleading guilty before the Honorable Laurie Michelson to Conspiracy to Commit Federal Program Bribery from 2014 through 2018 and Tax Evasion. Morrison was the elected president of the Madison District Public Schools Board of Education from 2012 through 2018. While Morrison was president, John David was one of the owners of a building maintenance and reconstruction company, Emergency Restoration that was awarded over $3.1 million maintenance and construction projects in the Madison District Public Schools. David, who was a long-time friend of Morrison, paid Morrison more than $561,000 in order to secure the work for the Madison District. Morrison spent the money from David on personal luxuries such as vacations in Florida and a boat slip. To keep the payments secret from the school board and the community, Morrison denied having any financial ties to David or Emergency Restoration when publicly confronted at a Madison District school board meeting. Morrison also failed to disclose to State of Michigan auditors the payments he received from David. Morrison did not declare to the IRS David’s payments as income in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, or 2018. By not declaring the payments to the IRS, Morrison avoided paying approximately $118,200 in taxes. “Today’s sentence underscores our continued insistence that our trusted public officials hold themselves to the highest standards of integrity and honesty. It sends a clear message that when public officials break that trust, they will be held accountable,” said United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison. “This sentence ensures that school officials will put the interests of our children first and that those who accept bribes and evade paying taxes will answer for their crimes.” “Today’s sentence sends a clear message that financial fraud by our public officials will not be tolerated, especially when it’s at the expense of the children in our communities,” said Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller, Detroit Field Office. “IRS CI will continue to work with our federal and local partners to safeguard the financial future of our communities and our nation’s tax system.” “Today, Mr. Morrison is being held accountable for the crimes he committed as president of the Madison District Public School Board,” said Cheyvoryea, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Michigan. “We thank the IRS and Department of Education – Office of Inspector General for working alongside the FBI to investigate these allegations and expose Mr. Morrison’s corruption.” “Mr. Morrison abused his position of trust for personal gain, and with today’s action, will now be held accountable for cheating those he promised to serve – Madison’s school children and their families,” said John Woolley, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General Midwestern Regional Office. "The OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to aggressively pursue those who misappropriate education funds for their own selfish purposes. Our nation’s students and taxpayers deserve nothing less.” The investigation of this case was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Education. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sarah Resnick Cohen, Karen Reynolds, and Gjon Juncaj. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
