Court Upholds Prison Sentences in $22 Million Tax Shelter Scheme

Two St. Louis tax attorneys and their insurance broker will serve prison time after the Fourth Circuit rejected their appeal in a $22 million tax fraud scheme.

Michael Kohn and his daughter Catherine Chollet, partners at Kohn Partnership in St. Louis, and their North Carolina-based insurance agent David Simmons were convicted of conspiracy to defraud the government and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns. The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected multiple arguments on appeal and affirmed their sentences Tuesday.

For over a decade, the trio promoted a tax shelter they called the ...