Santa Barbara criminal defense attorney Darryl Genis was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday after pleading guilty to willfully failing to file income tax returns for several years.
Genis did not report more than $3.5 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service, and failed to pay income taxes for eight years, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
He pleaded guilty in October to three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file tax returns for his law practice from 2009 through 2011. He faced up to three years in prison in his plea agreement.
Along with the 24-month prison sentence, which he reports for on or before May 15, Genis was ordered to pay $679,958 in restitution to the IRS, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
His practice focuses on driving-under-the-influence cases, and Genis is known for his confrontational style in court.
“The restitution will be handled in large part by the sale of what was the family residence, and that’s something that should have been done already but because I was going through a divorce, I was not the sole deciding factor,” Genis told Noozhawk Monday night.
He will continue practicing at his firm until May 15, and plans to continue after he is released from prison, he said.
The State Bar of California has called him “effective but controversial,” and it’s unclear how the conviction will affect his State Bar status, which was active as of Monday.
“The State Bar action is not going to have an impact on my ability to practice between now and my surrender date, and once I surrender it’ll be largely irrelevant until I’m released,” he said.
“It’s very unfortunate. I prided myself on being the best in my craft, and believe that I am and continue to be. People who need a good defense know where to find it and can still find it there.”
Genis isn’t sure where he will be sent to serve his time.
“I will say one thing, and I mentioned this in court – I take full responsibility for not filing and not paying all the tax that I owed. It’s not like I didn’t pay, I paid hundreds of thousands in taxes, but didn’t pay enough,” he said.
He didn’t file taxes for three years, and said he didn’t file because he suffers from a gambling addiction that affected his judgment.
In a statement about the sentence, U.S. Attorney Eileen Decker said, “During the years he was not paying his taxes, this defendant purchased a multi-million-dollar home in Santa Barbara for his family, which allowed him to rent a different million-dollar residence that he also owned.
“Demonstrating his total disregard for honoring his tax responsibilities, in the span of just one weekend in 2009, he gambled away tens of thousands of dollars that easily exceeded the taxes he owed that year. Attorneys are no different than any other citizen; they are expected to follow the law.”
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.