On Nov. 11, a Michigan business owner and personal injury attorney with offices in Southfield was found guilty of tax charges. 16 at the conclusion of a jury trial in federal court.
Carl L. Collins, III was convicted of willfully filing five false tax returns for himself and one of his businesses.
Collins owns a real estate firm, First Third LLC, and two healthcare-related companies — MedCity Rehabilitation Services LLC in Highland Park and Alpha Living LLC in Southfield, according to a Justice Department press release. During his trial, evidence showed that Collins failed to report substantial business income and deposited it with interest in an undisclosed attorney trust account, a bank account used by attorneys only to hold money for clients. In doing so, he withheld funds from taxpayers and the IRS.
Collins was convicted of filing false personal tax returns for 2012, 2015 and 2018, filing a false 2012 amended return and filing a false 2015 corporate tax return for Alpha Living, an assisted care facility in Southfield. He also failed to report the roughly $600,000 he earned in 2012. He deposited most of the funds into an undisclosed IOLTA account, hiding them from his tax preparer.
On his 2015 personal returns, Collins failed to report income of more than $800,000. On his 2018 returns, he left out roughly $300,000 in earnings deposited into another undisclosed IOLTA account. In total, Collins did not report more than $2.6 million.
Collins’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 21, 2023. He faces up to three years in prison for each charge of filing tax returns, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and a fine.
Southfield woman faces 43 felonies charged with tax fraud
Judge suppresses evidence in Danielle Stislicki murder case