David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Ian Prout, 38, of Essex, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Janet C. Hall in Bridgeport to three months of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, for failing to report more than $250,000 in income on his federal tax returns between 2005 and 2007.  Judge Hall also ordered Prout to pay a fine in the amount of $3000.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2005 to 2007, Prout was a self-employed race car specialist who owned and operated the Sports Car Driving Association, LLC.  Prout provided racetrack instruction at racing facilities in the Northeast.  Typically, Prout rented the facilities for the weekend and was paid to teach high-performance car owners how to drive and race their vehicles.  Prout also derived income by providing consulting services to car dealerships and marketing firms.  Prout deposited most of the income from his racetrack instruction events into his business banking account, but deposited the income from his consulting work into his personal bank account.

When preparing his tax returns, Prout supplied information to his accountant about his business bank account, but failed to supply information about his personal bank account.  By failing to tell his accountant about the income that he deposited into his personal bank account, Prout ensured that his tax returns failed to report the total amount of income he received in each year.

For the 2005 through 2007 tax years, Prout failed to report $251,136 in income, resulting in his underpayment of $74,481 in taxes for those years.  Today, Judge Hall ordered Prout to pay to the IRS taxes, penalties, and interest in the approximate amount of $150,000.

On Nov. 18, 2010, Prout pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return.

This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sandra S. Glover.