Donna Guerin, an ex-tax partner at Jenkens & Gilchrist, was sentenced on March 1 to eight years in prison for her role in a massive scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Southern District Judge William Pauley (See Profile) imposed the lengthy sentence on Guerin, who pleaded guilty in September to helping wealthy clients avoid paying hundreds of millions in taxes by parking money in tax shelters that served no legitimate economic purpose (NYLJ, Sept. 14, 2012). The judge also ordered Guerin to pay $190 million in restitution besides the $1.6 million she agreed to forfeit at her plea.
Guerin, represented by Mark Rotert of Stetler, Duffy & Rotert in Chicago, was convicted in May 2011 following a three-month trial, along with fellow Jenkens & Gilchrist partner Paul Daugerdas, former BDO Seidman CEO Denis Field and banker David Parse, formerly of Deutsche Bank, in a conspiracy that involved the drafting of legal opinion letters to give clients cover should the IRS question the legitimacy of the tax shelters. But those verdicts were thrown out last year by Pauley because it was discovered that a juror, Catherine Conrad, had lied about her identity as a suspended lawyer with a criminal history. Pauley granted a retrial for Guerin, Daugerdas and Field, although he denied a new trial for Parse, finding that his lawyers had reason to believe that Conrad had lied about her history (NYLJ, June 5, 2012). Guerin then elected to plead guilty. Daugerdas and Field are still awaiting retrial.
