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Former NFL Player Avoids Prison…for Tax Fraud

Typically when current or former NFL player gets into trouble with the law it usually consists of 1) drugs/alcohol 2) assault 3) the occasional (or shockingly frequent?) homicide.


Former Buffalo Bills running back Darick Holmes pleaded guilty last year to 15 counts of tax fraud and order to pay $53k in restitution to the IRS. He had been running a scam in Buffalo showing people how to file bogus tax returns, “Holmes admitted that, while spending time in Buffalo in 2004 and 2005, he helped people file tax returns that listed false information about where they had worked and how much they paid in taxes. When the tax filers received refunds, Holmes got a cut of the money.”

Holmes was sentenced to one year of home confinement which had the prosecutor all bent out of shape since Holmes’ co-defendant, Darryle Buckner, was sentenced to a year in prison and wasn’t found to be as “culpable” as Holmes. The judge felt that Holmes was remorseful (that’s a new one for a tax crime) and was impressed with his work with troubled teens.

Holmes has had a rough go of it, he was shot seven times right after his arrest in 2008, according to the prosecutor it was during an $80,000 marijuana deal. Yeesh, This prosecutor guy is really pissed about this sentence.

The real moral of the story is you’re probably better off listening to Joe Biden (?) than an ex-NFL player when it comes getting tax advice.

Ex-Bill Holmes avoids prison in tax fraud case [Buffalo News]