A Georgia attorney, Vi Bui, has admitted guilt in a case involving the obstruction of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) through participation in a fraudulent tax scheme. Bui, formerly a partner at Sinnott & Co., was involved from 2012 to 2020 in promoting illegal syndicated conservation easement tax shelters organized by Jack Fisher and others. Fisher and Sinnott were previously convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
The scheme involved creating partnerships that bought land or land-owning companies and donated conservation easements. These donations were appraised fraudulently at inflated values, allowing wealthy clients who purchased partnership units to claim inflated tax deductions. Many clients joined these shelters after the donation and relevant tax year had ended. To legitimize the transactions, documents such as subscription agreements and checks were falsified or backdated.
Bui anticipated audits by the IRS and took measures to present these partnerships as legitimate real estate development firms. This included generating misleading documentation, staging sham votes on land use decisions with predetermined outcomes, and falsifying appraisals.
During an undercover operation in 2018, Bui prepared false documents related to an individual’s 2014 tax return audit. He also used these shelters for personal gain, filing false returns from 2013 to 2018.
Bui faces sentencing on February 13, 2025, with a potential maximum penalty of three years in prison along with other penalties. His case follows convictions of nine others involved in similar criminal conduct related to this scheme.
The announcement was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division; U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan for the Northern District of Georgia; and Chief Guy Ficco of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). They acknowledged assistance from U.S. Attorney Dena J. King for the Western District of North Carolina.
The investigation was conducted by IRS-CI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, with prosecution handled by Trial Attorneys Richard M. Rolwing, Parker Tobin, Jessica Kraft, Nicholas J. Schilling Jr., Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Huber, and deputy chief of complex frauds section for Northern District of Georgia.