A Pine Bluff attorney who has been in practice 42 years was indicted last week on five counts of corruptly endeavoring to impede the administration of Internal Revenue Service laws and four counts of willfully failing to file an income tax return.
According to the indictment, Mark Braden Chadick, 72, didn't file income tax returns for at least 15 years.
It says that during part of that time, from 2005-07, the IRS used third-party records to generate substitutes for returns. Also, in 2010, the IRS filed a notice of federal tax lien with the Jefferson County clerk's office and the Garland County clerk's office to secure the government's interest in properties Chadick owned in both counties.
The past-due balance for tax years 2000-04 was $411,468.09, according to the indictment.
It alleges that on three occasions in early 2013, Chadick forged a Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien indicating that the tax debt had been satisfied and sent it to the Garland County circuit clerk's office so that it would remove the lien.
It further alleges that Chadick falsely told an employee of the clerk's office in May 2013 that he had fully paid the federal tax debt secured by the lien, so that it would remove the lien, and later that same month, sent a fraudulent "IRS Notice" to the clerk's office, indicating that his tax debts had been paid.
On June 6, 2013, according to the indictment, Chadick falsely told a Treasury Department investigator that the tax lien should be released because he had paid the debt.
The last four counts each apply to a specific tax year. They allege that in 2012, Chadick had an approximate gross income of $848,048, but didn't file a tax return that was due April 15, 2013. For the 2013 tax year, he is accused of failing to file a return despite having an approximate gross income of $757,991. The documents say that his approximate gross income in 2014 was $582,381, and in 2015 it was $745,828, but that he willfully failed to file tax returns for those years as well.
Online records from the Arkansas Supreme Court clerk's office indicate that in 2005, Chadick was reprimanded and fined $500 in response to a complaint, and that in 1992, he was suspended from practicing law for three months.
Metro on 08/16/2019