EcoVest Settles Easement Fraud Case With Justice Department (1)

Conservation easement promoter EcoVest Capital Inc. agreed not to promote any more easement tax deals in a settlement of a government lawsuit accusing the company of helping generate more than $3 billion in deductions as part of an abusive tax scheme.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued the permanent injunction on Monday, which enforces a March 13 settlement reached by EcoVest and the Justice Department. EcoVest didn’t admit that any of the department’s allegations were true.

The department accused the company of engaging in “a thinly veiled sale of grossly overvalued federal tax deductions under ...