A Florida CPA who challenged a 24-month suspension of practice before the Internal Revenue Service has ended up with an 36-month bar. Lawrence Legel, who was suspended for helping a client hide income, had challenged the longer suspension sought by the IRS's Office of Professional Responsibility and had won a two-year ban on a ruling by an administrative judge.Legel had waived his right to trial in Federal District Court and pled guilty to a violation of section 7203 for assisting with a client's efforts to hide income. After the OPR started an expedited proceeding to suspend him indefinitely, Legal withdrew his admission of guilt.
An administrative judge had rejected a proposed 36-month suspension and imposed one of 24 months and calculated its start from the date Legel was placed on probation in the criminal proceeding. His probation started one year before the OPR took action to suspend him and the agency appealed both the length and start date of the suspension.
On March 31, the Treasury Appellate Authority ruled the 36 months was appropriate and that the suspnion started from the date on which the OPR imposed its suspension under the expedited procedure provisions of Circular 230.
The appellate authority, accepting some of the administrative judge's findings and disagreeing with others, found that aggravating factors "Legel's lack of concern with telling the truth in sworn testimony in the [criminal proceeding] and in his testimony in the disciplinary proceeding, and his lack of remorse."
