Lawyer Gets Ten Years For Tax Scheme
A Montgomery County lawyer convicted of creating a complex scheme that allowed him and eleven clients to evade millions of dollars in federal income taxes has been given at least ten years in federal prison.
A federal court jury in Philadelphia found 60-year-old Bernard “Jay” Bagdis, who lives in Norristown and had a law office in Blue Bell, guilty on dozens of tax-related charges last year. Prosecutors said doctors, engineers and other professionals all participated in the scheme, where Bagdis set up numerous corporations that enabled them to hide more than $23 million from the Internal Revenue Service over a ten-year period. They were able to avoid paying more than $4.5 million in federal income taxes owed by the individuals and corporations. The jury also found two of his clients guilty. The other nine had entered guilty pleas earlier.
