Ft. Myers Real Estate Agent Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Fort Myers real estate agent Thomas Daugherty pleaded guilty earlier this month to federal tax evasion charges in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers.

Prosecutors alleged that Daugherty, who handled commercial real estate transactions, reported a total of $3,366,733 in income for the years 1998 through 2005. He reported $2,020,655 in income for the years 2006 and 2007. However, Daugherty failed to pay $1,648,227 in taxes for the years 1998 through 2005.

Law enforcement further alleged, and Daugherty admitted, that he maintained a lifestyle of hoarding and spending cash in order to hide his assets from the IRS during that time. He cashed his real estate commission checks or purchased cashier’s checks made out to himself, rather than depositing them into his bank account. From November 2002 through April 2008, Daugherty purchased more than 210 cashier’s checks totaling more than $2,190,000 and made payable to himself while maintaining nominal or negative bank account balances.

The failure to pay income tax alone would probably not have concerned federal authorities to quite the extent that Daugherty’s evasion tactics apparently did. Daughtery will now be the subject of a pre-sentence investigation and faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.