SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A Sacramento-area lawyer known for filing non-ADA compliant lawsuits against businesses has been indicted on tax charges.
Scott Norris Johnson, 57, of Carmichael, has been indicted and charged with three counts of making and subscribing a false tax return, according to a press release from the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Over the years, Johnson has filed "thousands of lawsuits" in California, naming himself as the plaintiff and making claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the California Disabled Persons Act, and the California Unruh Civil Rights Act.
Settlements payments are taxable "unless they were paid because of personal physical injury or physical sickness." Johnson allegedly underreported the settlement payments he received on his income tax returns for tax years 2012, 2013, and 2014, paying "little to no income tax" for those years.
If convicted, Johnson could face up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count. This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation.