Carthage men receive prison time for $1.6M tax fraud conspiracy

Two Carthage men, a surgeon and his brother, who worked as his office manager, were sentenced Aug. 4 to prison time for tax fraud conspiracy, according to a news release from Beth Phillips, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Dr. Brian Ellefsen, 47, and Mark Ellefsen, 41, were sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays for attempting to avoid paying federal income taxes on nearly $1.6 million earned by Brian Ellefsen's Carthage-based practice Southwest Missouri Bone and Joint Inc., the release said.

Brian Ellefsen was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison with no parole and ordered to pay approximately $1.2 million in restitution, and Mark Ellefsen was sentenced to 14 months in federal prison without parole and ordered to pay $50,000, according to the release.

From July 10, 1997, to Aug. 10, 2003, the two men diverted about $1.6 million from Southwest Missouri Bone and Joint to Brian Ellefsen without paying taxes on the diverted funds, according to the release.

Using a series of accounts at financial institutions and offshore bank accounts, the Ellefsens engaged in sham paper transactions with no economic or business purpose, which concealed the funds from the Internal Revenue Service, the release said.

The men were also found guilty of filing three separate false income tax returns from 2001 to 2003, the release said.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Mohlhenrich and Mike Boteler, trial attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. It was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation, according to the release.[[In-content Ad]]