Too fat to go to prison: Lawyer argues 273lb tax schemer should be spared jail because his obesity means he has less time to live
- An attorney for a 72-year-old man says that his client is too fat to go to prison
- Stephen Donaldson Sr. attorney claims that sending his 273 pound client to six years in prison would eat 61 percent of his remaining time on earth
- Donaldson was sentenced last week in Tampa for his part in a $10 million scheme that peddled offshore tax havens for medical professionals
- Judge Stephen D. Merryday earlier this year threw out an earlier plea deal that would have seen Donaldson behind bars for only three years
Curtis Fallgatter (pictured) claims his client at 72 years old and 273 pounds is too fat to go to prison
The attorney for a 72-year-old Florida man who was convicted in a tax dodging scheme is using obesity to try to keep his client out of prison.
Curtis Fallgatter wrote in a court filing on Monday that Stephen Donaldson Sr. doesn't have an average man's life expectancy because he's 5-foot-9 and weighs 273 pounds.
For that reason, the attorney wrote, it's not right to make him serve six years and four months in prison.
Fallgatter wrote that the prison term could translate to 61 percent of Donaldson's remaining time on earth.
The Tampa Bay Times reports Donaldson was sentenced last week in Tampa for peddling an offshore tax shelter that cost the IRS an estimated $10 million.
Donaldson was sentenced last week for his part in a $10 million scheme that peddled offshore tax havens for medical professionals (pictured: Middle Florida District Court in Tampa)
Donaldson was convicted with a co-conspirator, 70-year-old Duane Crithfield, who also received six years and four months in prison. Both men are being held at Pinellas County Jail, which holds detainees in federal custody.
The guilt verdicts come after more than four years of litigation in the case.
Prosecutors were able to successfully prove that Donaldson and Crithfield spearheaded a fraudulent tax scheme that marketed offshore 'Business Protection Plans' to medical practices.
The plans were designed to shelter doctors and other medical professionals against unlikely events such as a kidnapping.
Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen D. Merryday (pictured) earlier this year threw out a plea deal signed by the defendant that would have seen him in jail for only three years
Buyers of the plan would pay a premium and write-off the cost as a business expense, later reclaiming about 85 per cent of the premium if the insurance was not utilized, The Bay Times reported.
The scheme also helped purchasers to avoid paying a much higher marginal tax rate.
Chief U.S. District Judge Stephen D. Merryday earlier this year threw out a plea deal signed by the two defendants after their attorneys began downplaying their clients' criminal conduct, leading the judge to revisit the issue.
The original plea deal would have led to a three year prison sentence on only one count of helping a client make a false statement on his corporate tax return.
Donaldson and Crithfield were investigated by the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jay G. Trezevant and Megan K. Kistler, The Bay Times noted.
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