A previously disbarred Sullivan County lawyer who was imprisoned for tax evasion for nearly a year is facing a new action by the federal government to collect $1.7 million in taxes, penalties and interest.
The United States sued Stanley L. Cohen, 74, of Callicoon Center, Sullivan County, on Feb. 21 in White Plains federal court. Matthew Podolsky, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is seeking to reduce Cohen’s federal tax liabilities to a court judgment that would give the government more time to collect back taxes.
In 2014, Cohen pleaded guilty to obstructing the Internal Revenue Service for failure to file income tax returns for 2005 through 2010, and for concealing payments from clients.
He was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and a year of supervision after his release. He served 11 months in prison, three months in a halfway house, and two months of home confinement.
In 2018, the First Appellate Court disbarred Cohen retroactively for two-and-a-half years and then reinstated him as an attorney.
The panel of justices noted that Cohen had paid $118,000 in back taxes and that he was negotiating payment plans with the IRS and New York State for significant taxes still owed.
The justices also noted Cohen’s acceptance of responsibility for his crimes; an otherwise unblemished record as an attorney; pro bono work for indigent clients; devotion to a longtime life-partner with serious mental and physical health problems; his desire to return to productive activity so that he could pay his taxes; and an austere lifestyle.
When the appellate court reinstated Cohen as an attorney it also directed him to provide a progress report every six months on the status of his repayment agreements with the IRS and New York State.
Now Cohen owes $1,711,319 in unpaid federal taxes, penalties and interest, according to the new lawsuit. That includes $1,215,399 for the six years of unpaid taxes that landed him in prison. And he owes another $495,919 for unpaid taxes since then.
He also owes New York $405,905 for unpaid personal income taxes, according to state tax warrants.
Cohen did not reply to an email asking for a response to the lawsuit.
