SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) – A California attorney was charged for tax evasion from 1994 to 2003, prosecutors said Wednesday.

James Stewart Richards, 63, of West Sacramento, California allegedly concealed from the IRS his income and assets in several ways, such as filing a false Offer In Compromise that omitted bank accounts and six rental properties in Carmichael.

Richards, an attorney practicing law in the Sacramento area and in Hawaii, also purchased cashiers’ checks and held them for periods up to 884 days, used an old client trust account for his personal business, and when he learned the IRS was investigating, he withdrew all the money from the account and purchased a yacht in a nominee’s name.

In addition, Richards also allegedly made false statements about his assets to a bankruptcy court and to the IRS.

Richards now faces a maximum penalty or five years in prison, a $250,000 fine, a period of three years of supervised release, and repayment of the costs of prosecution.