Date: December 8, 2021 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Albany, NY — Joseph D. Radcliffe of Elka Park, New York, pled guilty today to conspiring with others to evade taxes on personal income earned from stock sales. The announcement was made by United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent in Charge, New York Field Office, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation ("IRS-CI"). Radcliffe, a former Wall Street stockbroker, admitted that from at least 2013 through 2019, he conspired with two family members to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars that went unreported to the IRS, allowing him to defraud the IRS and evade the assessment and payment of taxes on approximately $500,000 in unreported income. The unreported income originated from capital gains earned in brokerage accounts standing in the names of Crackerjack Classics LLC and Universal Consulting LLC. These companies made payments to Radcliffe, and for his benefit, including the following: $128,147 in mortgage payments and interest that the companies paid, from 2014 through 2019, to the bank that held the mortgage on Radcliffe's house in Elka Park; $109,022 that the companies paid to a New Jersey law firm, in 2014, 2015 and 2017, to settle Radcliffe's unpaid bills; and $99,675 that the companies paid, in 2015 and 2016, in checks made out to "Cash" and which Radcliffe negotiated for himself or had others negotiate for his benefit. Radcliffe further admitted that he did not file a tax return for himself, or otherwise report his income to the IRS, for the tax years 2013 through 2019. He did not maintain any bank or brokerage accounts in his name, and he did not hold or trade any securities in his own name. Radcliffe faces up to 5 years in prison, and a maximum $250,000 fine, when Chief U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby sentences him on April 28, 2022. He will also be ordered to pay restitution to the IRS. A defendant's sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors. This case was investigated by IRS-CI and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett.
