Opinion ID: 2982389
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Threadgill’s Finances and Accounting

Text: Throughout the relevant time period, Threadgill employed an accounting firm operated by Frank Addicks, a certified public accountant, to assist in the preparation of his personal and business tax returns. Addicks’s firm did not provide any bookkeeping services for Threadgill. Instead, Threadgill provided Addicks a copy of his accounting ledgers, which Addicks’s firm used to prepare Threadgill’s tax returns. Andrea Mize, a certified public accountant, assisted Addicks in the preparation of Threadgill’s returns. After preparing his returns, Addicks’s firm would provide an instructional letter to Threadgill informing him of his tax liability and instructing him on how to file his return. Crystal White worked as Threadgill’s office manager from late 2000 to mid-2002. Her duties included performing bookkeeping, processing payroll, and providing financial information to Addicks and Mize. As part of her responsibilities, Crystal White assisted Threadgill in the payment of his personal expenses. Threadgill paid a variety of personal expenses out of his law firm’s bank account. These personal expenses included school tuition, personal vehicles, vacation expenses, and real estate. In the firm’s accounting ledgers, Threadgill categorized these expenditures as “management fees,” “loans to JOT,”2 and “cafeteria plan benefits.”3 Threadgill also compensated himself in the 2 The defendant’s initials are JOT. 3 Threadgill instructed Crystal White to categorize his children’s tuition payments as cafeteria plan benefits for accounting purposes. 3 No. 13-5897 United States v. Threadgill form of “management fees.” Compensation in the form of management fees was not subject to withholding, but was attributed as personal income to Threadgill for purposes of calculating his taxes. Addicks did not instruct Threadgill on how to compensate himself from his law firm’s earnings. Further, Threadgill placed family members on the firm’s payroll despite them not actually performing any work for the firm. On several occasions, Threadgill instructed Crystal White to write checks on the firm’s account to a nominee trust. Towards the end of Chrystal White’s employment, Threadgill withdrew money from the firm’s account every few days and directed White to categorize those withdrawals as “loans to JOT”.