A Florida man was sentenced to two years in prison in the U.S. District Court in Bangor on Friday following a tax evasion and bankruptcy fraud scheme.
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Paul Archer, 46, formerly of Hampden and Orrington, operated a successful online marketing business and earned several million dollars from 2013 to 2015.
An IRS audit in 2016 revealed that Archer had incurred a federal tax debt of approximately $1 million while operating his business.
In response to the audit, Archer began his fraud scheme by concealing assets, transferring funds through two LLCs he controlled, and using third-party bank accounts to avoid paying his tax debt, according to court filings.
For over a year, from April 2018 to November 2019, Archer concealed his assets and income through bank accounts held in the names of his father, his spouse, Max Tune Up, LLC, and Stealth Kit, LLC.
He transferred an investment account held in his own name to an account held in the name of Stealth Kit, LLC, which he then used to trade stocks and make further investments. Archer also concealed his wealth through several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of trading in Bitcoin.
Despite his numerous accounts, Archer filed for bankruptcy in 2019 and falsely claimed to have under $50,000 in assets, just a single checking account, no other assets or property, no recent asset transfers, and no connections to businesses or membership in any LLCs.
He then repeated those falsehoods under oath in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maine.
Archer was sentenced to spend two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.
