(WXYZ) — The owner of the law firm Legal Genius P.L.L.C. pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS and stealing "unapproved" Detroit Police Department crash reports in order to target crash victims.
Matthew Schwartz, of Birmingham, faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on each count, and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy offenses, a release states.
From at least July 2014 through April 2018, Schwartz, along with co-conspirators, took and distributed DPD traffic crash reports. Many of the reports were labeled "unapproved" and not available to the public, according to court documents.
Schwartz and others used the reports to solicit crash victims for personal injury lawyers, chiropractors, health care professionals, and other businesses.
Also, between 2015 and 2017, court documents show that Schwartz attempted to "obstruct and impede" the IRS by diverting Legal Genius business income into his personal bank account. He also paid individuals doing services for the law firm with checks made payable to "cash."That was done to conceal those individuals' taxable income from the IRS and the Social Security Administration.
