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12/13/2016 12:30 PMAn Old Saybrook businessman who had been poised to plead guilty to tax charges last month before suddenly changing his mind was hit Dec. 7 with the revelation of another indictment.
David Adams, the 56-year-old founder of Flowers USA who is no longer associated with the company, was charged with filing false tax returns and tax evasion, along with attempting to interfere with the administration of the tax laws. The tax-return charges related to the 2009, 2011, and 2012 tax years, according to an indictment, while the tax-evasion charges were for 2011 and 2012.
“Adams engaged in a more than 16-year effort to inhibit the IRS’s efforts to collect back taxes from him,” according to a summary of the indictment handed down Dec. 6 by a New Haven grand jury. “Although he was repeatedly advised by IRS collections officers about his obligations to pay estimated taxes, Adams continually failed to pay those taxes on time or in sufficient amounts.”
Authorities say Adams, principal of Saybrook Realty Partners and the Saybrook Junction development by the town’s train station, now owes more than $4.6 million in back taxes, including interest and penalties.
According to the summary provided by the U.S. State’s Attorney’s Office in Connecticut, Adams had been in contact with IRS collections officers since 1998. Over that time, prosecutors allege, Adams bounced checks, falsely claimed payments had been sent, promised to pay up without following through, delayed payments or sent only partial payments, and claimed falsely that he lacked funds to pay.
He also is accused of filing false tax returns, overstating previous payments to the IRS, and failing to declare more than $6 million in income.
If convicted on all counts, Adams faces a maximum of more than 20 years in prison. He is currently out on a $500,000 bond.
Adams had been expected in November to plead guilty to federal criminal charges of making false statements on tax returns, but he bowed out of the plea agreement at the last minute, according to court records.
Adams was charged earlier this year in a previous indictment with failing to report $4.7 million he earned in the 2011 sale of another online floral business in which he held a partnership interest. The complaint also said he had reported paying $220,000 in taxes that year when he actually paid $100,000.
Adams, a former resident of East Lyme who once had a floral business in Groton, had previously been convicted of credit card fraud, which led to a three-year prison sentence and hefty financial penalties. He also had been convicted once before for willful failure to file income tax returns.
U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly said in a release that the most recent federal grand jury indictment superseded the previous charges handed down May 3.