Manatee County man gets prison for $2.4 million tax evasion scheme

A Palmetto man has been sentenced to federal prison for tax evasion for a scheme to avoid paying $2.46 million to the IRS. 

Terry Brunning has been ordered to serve 24 months in jail and will serve an additional 36 months of supervised release after prison. U.S. District Judge Charlene E. Honeywell also ordered he pay $2.46 million in restitution.

Brunning, whose age was not disclosed, had pleaded guilty to charges in the case in April.

According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice and a copy of the plea agreement, from 2005 through 2019, Brunning committed multiple acts to avoid paying taxes owed to the IRS for 1998 through 2001.

He did this, authorities contended, by using an unnamed business entity to buy property, vehicles and cashier’s checks to hide the ownership and sources of the funds.

Brunning, who lived in San Diego and Palmetto during the time, perpetuated the scheme to avoid the enforcement of a tax judgment against his personal assets. 

The plea agreement calls what he did “a willful attempt to evade or defeat the payment of taxes due.”

As a result of his actions, the DOJ says, the total tax loss including penalty and interest reached the $2.46 million.

The IRS Criminal Investigation division investigated Brunning. Assistant United States Attorney Whitney Mackay prosecuted the case.