A former Idaho state representative convicted of conspiring to defraud the federal government has been sentenced to prison and a six-figure fine.
John Green, who represented the Post Falls area, will serve six months in federal prison for his role in the tax dodging scheme. Green also owes nearly $680,000 in restitution and will serve three years of probation after he’s released.
Green helped a client, Thomas Selgas, avoid paying $1.1 million in income tax over the course of more than a decade. Selgas would buy gold coins and deposit them into bank accounts linked to Green’s law practice.
Afterwards, Green paid the client’s personal expenses with that money.
A jury convicted both men in Jan. 2020.
Selgas’s charges included one count of conspiring to defraud the government and one count of tax evasion. He’ll serve 18 months in prison, three years of probation and he owes $1.3 million in restitution. His wife, Michelle Selgas, was acquitted.
Green’s fellow House members voted to expel him shortly after his felony conviction, though some lawmakers debate that characterization. It was the first time a member of the Idaho legislator had ever been expelled, according to Legislative Librarian Eric Glover.
Those convicted of a felony are barred from holding public office in Idaho until they go through the process of restoring their civil rights.
Federal prosecutors had asked a judge to sentence Green to five years in prison, calling him a “tax scofflaw” who hasn’t filed tax returns for two decades.
In their request to impose a harsher sentence, prosecutors said Green had provided a psychiatrist’s note to the U.S. Probation Office saying he has a “delusional disorder which is narrowly focused on certain aspects of the tax code.”
Green’s lawyer says he’ll appeal his case.
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