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YOU CAN'T PHONE IN YOUR TAX FRAUD SENTENCE

August 31, 2007

Last week we wrote about an appeals court tossing out a home-confinement sentence for a Pennsylvania executive, with directions for the sentencing judge to add some prison time. Now a former Wal-Mart executive has likewise had a bad day before a federal appeals court:

The Eighth Circuit's U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis ruled Tuesday that Tom Coughlin, a former executive at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, should be re-sentenced in the fraud case against him because the court's sentence was too lenient.

Coughlin was sentenced in August 2006 to 27 months of home detention, five years of probation and ordered to pay $461,000 in fines and restitution after pleading guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion.

A prison term of 27 to 33 months would be in line with federal guidelines.

The Moral: If you get caught at tax fraud, don't expect to stay at home.

Cite: USA v. Coughlin, CA-8, No 06-3294.

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