Former Law Partner Gets Jail Time For Part In Massive Tax Shelter Fraud

A former partner at now-defunct Jenkens & Gilchrist will serve six months in prison and pay $220 million in restitution jointly with other co-conspirators for promoting tax shelters that diverted funds from the U.S. government, resulting in $1.63 billion in lost revenue. Erwin Mayer will serve prison time though authorities called him the most important cooperating witness in the case, which they say is the largest criminal tax fraud case in U.S. history. Mayer helped design, market and implement fraudulent tax shelters for clients from 1995 to 2004. For his part in the case Paul Daugerdas, former head of Jenkens & Gilchrist, was convicted and given a 15-year sentence.