May 29--A Chicago attorney has been charged with failing to pay nearly $800,000 in federal income taxes over two decades, including for income he received in connection with the state of Illinois' lawsuit against tobacco companies.
Daniel Soso, 63, was charged in an indictment unsealed Thursday with one count of income tax evasion, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Prosecutors said Soso, of Alsip, was paid fees as part of a 1996 agreement between the Illinois attorney general and several law firms that represented the state in its lawsuit against certain tobacco companies. In November 1998, the state agreed to settle the case in exchange for a projected $9.1 billion in payments from the tobacco companies over a 20-year period.
From 1993 through 2013, Soso failed to pay about $780,000 in taxes, including taxes due from the income he received in contingency fees from a law firm that represented the state in the tobacco lawsuit, according to the indictment. The firm is not named in the charges.
The indictment also alleges that Soso lied to the Internal Revenue Service about his sources of income and hid payments from the settlement by depositing them in bank accounts of relatives and his girlfriend. He also took steps to circumvent levies imposed by the IRS against third parties in order to recoup the back taxes, according to the indictment.
From 2008 through 2012, Soso failed to file an income tax return at all, only doing so in 2014 "after learning about a federal law enforcement inquiry" into his finances, the indictment alleges.
According to the state Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Soso was first authorized to practice law in Illinois in 1979 and has never been disciplined.
Reached by telephone Thursday, Soso said he had not seen the indictment and had no comment on the allegations. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
jmeisner@tribpub.com
