Oct. 18 (Reuters) – A suspended attorney who has lived in East Hartford admitted last week that he had violated the conditions of supervised release in a federal tax evasion case, and a judge extended his supervision by a year and ordered him to remain on guard , to spend three months of this time at home captivity.
RELEASE FROM VIOLATIONS
ACCUSED: Suspended attorney Donald J. McCarthy Jr., early 70s, formerly of East Hartford
ORIGINAL SENTENCE: Two years in prison followed by three years in custody for tax evasion
VIOLATIONS: Failure to pay redress, failing to file tax returns three years after conviction, failing to provide accurate and complete financial information to his probation officer, or reporting changes of address
NEW SET: Assisted release extended by one year, including three months of house arrest; 300 hours community service
After attorney Donald J. McCarthy Jr., now in his early 70s, admitted the violation in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport, Judge Stefan R. Underhill extended McCarthy’s custody, ordered house arrest and required McCarthy to do 300 hours of community service, show Online Court Records.
Violations accused by US parole officer Jesse Murray McCarthy included failing to pay required compensation to the federal government and failing to file tax returns for the years following his conviction. McCarthy also failed to provide the probation officer with accurate and complete financial information or to notify him of a change of address, according to the probation officer’s request to the court.
Publicly available federal court filings don’t show how much McCarthy did to fix the shortfall in his refund payments for taxes he failed to pay prior to his December 2017 conviction in the tax evasion case — or to pay taxes due since then.
The parole officer reported in a June 3 petition to the court that McCarthy’s outstanding compensation was more than $1.5 million.
The parole officer wrote that McCarthy should pay $500 a month or 10% of his gross monthly income in compensation, whichever is greater. He said McCarthy’s average monthly gross income is between about $8,750 and $12,000, which means the 10% figure would be over $500. But he reported that McCarthy had never paid more than $500 a month and hadn’t made any payments since mid-February.
The parole officer also wrote that McCarthy failed to file tax returns for 2019-2021 when, according to the parole officer, he “earned significant taxable income.”
The form reporting the judge’s decision on the supervised release violation says nothing about what McCarthy should do to fix the missed refunds and tax payments. It said the judge reached an agreement between the parties, which was set out in a parole officer’s report dated Oct. 7, but that report is sealed from the public.
Attempts to reach McCarthy and his federal defense attorney Josh B. Ewing were unsuccessful.
The US Attorney’s Office has also not detailed the status of McCarthy’s financial compliance. The federal right to financial privacy law prohibits officials from providing suspected payment histories.
Available court documents show that several of McCarthy’s financial accounts were garnished, but the total amount of those accounts is not disclosed. One exception is that a court document filed by Empower Retirement shows McCarthy had more than $42,900 in an individual retirement account.
The original sentence given to McCarthy by Underhill for tax evasion was two years in prison, followed by three years of supervised imprisonment.
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