Trio Appeals Jail Sentences in $22.5 Million Tax Shelter Scheme

Two Missouri tax attorneys and an insurance agent from North Carolina who were accused of a tax scheme that deprived the US of $22 million appealed their criminal sentences to the Fourth Circuit Wednesday.

David Shane Simmons, a Jefferson, N.C., insurance broker, and St. Louis attorneys Michael Kohn and Catherine Chollet filed notice of appeal with the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, two weeks after being sentenced for their operation of a tax shelter system. They were sentenced for selling policies using inflated business expenses using fictitious royalties and management fees.

• First charged in 2022, they ...