Nicholson, once auditor for Hattiesburg and Forrest County, Miss., must also  pay a $25,000 fine and restitution of $629,432 to the Internal Revenue Service.

From 2012 to 2014, Nicholson was found to have conspired with a client to falsely classify $740,000 of personal payments as business expenses and filed client tax returns using this information. He was also found guilty by a jury of filing his own false personal income tax returns for 2012 through 2015. This included claiming false expenses, failure  to report embezzlement income, and under-reporting the gain on the sale of his accounting firm Nicholson & Company.