Insurance Tax Shelter Scheme Convictions Upheld

The 2017 convictions of two men who promoted and sold an insurance-based tax shelter were correct, the Eleventh Circuit ruled March 22.

Stephen Donaldson Sr. and Duane Crithfield, owners of the Business Protection Plan (BPP), were charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and willfully aiding the submission of false and fraudulent income tax returns for two BPP clients.

They were profiting from selling lump-sum insurance premiums to businesses that would later deduct the premiums as business expenses. The district court found that the premiums weren’t deductible under tax code Section 162.

Donaldson and Crithfield—who were ...