Felix Landau, 62, a lawyer previously practicing in Bellevue, has been sentenced today to 18 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and $61,232 in restitution for two counts of tax evasion, two counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice.

Landau was convicted in March 2009, following a seven-day bench trial in front of U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman. At sentencing, Judge Pechman said Landau’s tax evasion had “torn the fabric of the public trust. When you cheat on your taxes, you basically cheat everyone.”

Landau, a sole practitioner, significantly underreported his gross receipts on his income taxes in 2000, 2001, and 2002. When the IRS started investigating in 2003, Landau lied to an IRS agent and failed to disclose a bank account into which he had deposited more than $90,000 in income.

According to testimony at trial, in 2000, Landau underreported his income by about $87,000 thus avoiding an additional $18,000 in taxes. The next year, 2001, he underreported his income by about $85,000 avoiding an additional $20,000 in income taxes. In 2002, Landau underreported his income by $92,000, thus avoiding an additional $22,000 in taxes.

In January 2003, an IRS agent asked Landau to provide a variety of records related to his billing and bank records. Landau failed to report one bank account into which he had deposited gross receipts from his law practice. Further, Landau claimed that deposits into two of his accounts were funds from his new fiancée, when in fact, the deposits were fees from various clients.