Langhorne Contractor Gets Federal Prison For Tax Scam

June 17, 2022

The seal of the U.S. Department of Justice.

A contractor from the area was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for orchestration of a tax fraud scheme.

Earlier this week, Samuel Bullock, 72, of Langhorne, was sentenced to federal prison, one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay $3,501,261 restitution by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Baylson.

Bullock was charged in September 2020 with a number of tax offenses, including two counts of intentional refusal to submit a federal tax return and one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false federal tax return. He pleaded guilty in February 2022.

In the decade before 2009, according to the authorities, Bullock neglected to file federal income tax filings.

According to the authorities, the IRS stopped placing liens on Bullock in 2009 for more than $1.2 million in taxes, plus interest and penalties.

After the taxes went unpaid, Bullock responded by opening a new business checking account in his spouse’s name as the alleged sole proprietor and making arrangements to have his business income paid over to a sole proprietorship that he had established in the name of his spouse. He also gave his clients new Forms W-9 with his spouse’s Social Security number. The defendant subsequently filed his own income under the filing status “married filing separately” on his spouse’s tax return. Bullock didn’t file his federal income tax return even though he was aware he had earned money and was required to, authorities said.

“Samuel Bullock’s scheme to enrich himself and avoid paying his fair share of income taxes victimized honest American taxpayers and business owners who do pay their tax obligations,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Jennifer Arbittier Williams said. “By ignoring the IRS and its legitimate demands for information from him, the defendant created a self-inflicted wound: compounding his already-significant tax debt. This type of fraud will be aggressively investigated and prosecuted by this Office.”

“Every American who pays his or her taxes can breathe easy knowing that tax cheats, like Mr. Bullock, are being held accountable,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Yury Kruty. “IRS-CI has several investigative tools at its disposal to detect schemes like this. Those who think that they can outsmart the IRS should think again.”