Date: December 14, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov CHICAGO — A Chicago consultant pleaded guilty today to a federal tax offense for willfully attempting to evade and defeat the assessment of income taxes. Edward Acevedo of Chicago, pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge before U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. Judge Kennelly set sentencing for March 9, 2022. The guilty plea was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Justin Campbell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amarjeet S. Bhachu, Diane MacArthur, Sarah E. Streicker, Timothy J. Chapman, Michelle Kramer, and Julia Schwartz. Acevedo worked as a self-employed consultant. He admitted in a plea agreement that he willfully failed to file an individual income tax return for the calendar years 2015 through 2018, causing a loss to the IRS of at least approximately $37,380. Acevedo further admitted that he attempted to evade taxes by handling his affairs in a manner so as to avoid the creation and maintenance of customary business and accounting records. After discovering that he was under investigation by the IRS, Acevedo provided incomplete information to his accountant concerning the sources of Acevedo's income and expenses for 2017 and 2018, causing the accountant to prepare incomplete federal tax returns for those years, the plea agreement states.
