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Louisiana Judge Indicted for Filing False Tax Returns

Published January 7, 2022

A judge in Louisiana has been indicted after she allegedly failed to report all cash receipts from officiating hundreds of weddings or income from previous legal work and now faces possible jail time.

Louisiana – On January 7, 2022, a federal grand jury in New Orleans returned an indictment charging a city court judge with filing false tax returns.

According to the indictment, Ernestine Anderson-Trahan, a judge of the Second City Court in the Parish of Orleans, Louisiana, allegedly officiated hundreds of marriage ceremonies each year between 2013 and 2016, but failed to report all of the income earned from presiding over those ceremonies on her federal tax returns. For each marriage she officiated at the courthouse, Trahan allegedly received between $80 and $100 in cash. She allegedly charged more for marriages performed outside of regular business hours, outside of the courthouse, or on Valentine’s Day. Trahan allegedly failed to record all of these officiant fees on her federal tax filings from 2013 to 2016. Trahan is also accused of failing to record income she got from outside legal work before becoming a judge on her 2013 and 2014 tax returns.

Trahan is set to appear in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Janis van Meerveld of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana on January 24. For each of the four counts of submitting a fraudulent tax return, she faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison if convicted. After considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory criteria, a federal district court judge will impose any sentence.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans made the announcement.

IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI are investigating the case.

Trial Attorneys Brian Flanagan and William Montague of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.