Missouri CPA Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud and Tax Evasion

WASHINGTON – Murphy Hubbard, a Springfield, Mo., CPA, pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud and one count of tax evasion before Judge James England in the Western District of Missouri, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. 

According to the terms of Hubbard’s plea, he has agreed to be sentenced to 42 months in prison and shall be ordered to pay full restitution to the victims in this case, including the IRS.  

According to court documents, Hubbard owned and operated an accounting and tax business known as The Hubbard Group PC.   Hubbard embezzled more than $400,000 from two trusts placed under his control by local families between 1998 and 2009.  The first of these trusts, created by Ms. Hazel Beatrice S. Hirst, of Springfield, designated four local charities as the beneficiaries of her life’s savings. The second trust, established by the heirs of Mr. Noel C. Rummens, of Rogersville, Mo., was created for the express purpose of funding educational expenses for Mr. Rummens’s surviving heirs and relatives.   Rather than fulfilling the wishes of these families by faithfully executing their trust agreements, Hubbard instead took the vast majority of this money for himself, using it to pay personal expenses, to buy items such as automobiles and farm equipment, and for travel.  Virtually all of the money taken from these trusts went unreported to the IRS, resulting in a tax loss of approximately $79,434.  

The case is being prosecuted by Tax Division Trial Attorneys Michael C. Boteler and Mitchell S. Bober, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich.   The case was investigated by the IRS – Criminal Investigation Division.

Additional information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found at www.usdoj.gov/tax.