Andrew Parish, founder of wealth management gossip website AdvisorHub, pleaded guilty to tax fraud involving his recruiting business, according to the IRS.
Parish, who heads recruiting practice Axiom Consulting Group, failed to pay employment taxes for the business totaling $341,336 during a three-month period beginning in January 2009, according to a statement from the IRS enforcement office in Columbus, Ohio.
He paid his consulting firm's employees by issuing payroll checks himself to the Axiom staff, the IRS statement says, and though the payments had withholding amounts for taxes, the amount was never remitted to the tax agency.
The IRS statement says Parish was released on a bond pending sentencing. A date has not yet been set. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Parish did not immediately return a call seeking comment. In a statement posted on AdvisorHUB, he acknowledged his guilty plea and claimed there was "a contingent in wealth management that will work to silence us."
"I cannot comment on the final adjudication of what has been disclosed here," Parish wrote. "My hope is that an amicable end will come to the proceeding and I wont ever have to relive the folly of this episode. Lets just say I have learned some extraordinary lessons over the past five years."
Parish insisted that his industry gossip website "isn't going anywhere."
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