Texas doctor, wife sentenced for 10 years of tax evasion, ordered to pay $857k in restitution

After failing to pay income taxes for 10 years, a Texas doctor and his wife were sentenced Thursday.

Mark Reimer, 69, was sentenced to two years in prison and he and his wife were ordered to pay $857,127.24 in restitution, according to the United States Attorney’s Office District of Minnesota.

Reimer ran a medical practice in Texas from 2003-2007 and then worked as a physician for a private company in Minnesota from 2007-2015. Reimer earned more than $440,000 per year from 2003-2012, according to the attorney’s office.

He and his wife filed joint tax returns stating he’d earned more than $4.3 million in those 10 years and that owed an excess of $1.2 million in federal income taxes, as well as a $20,000 personal penalty for failing to pay employment taxes at his Texas practice between 2005-2007.

Mark and Ana Reimer, 69, wilfully evaded paying taxes despite being able, the attorney’s office said. They also withdrew more than $337,000 from their bank accounts with the "express purpose of preventing the IRS from collecting it." They transferred more than $353,000 to their four adult children and spent more than $250,000 on retail items, furniture and airline expenses.

In 2013 and 2015, the couple jointly filed for bankruptcy to avoid paying their taxes and falsely testified under oath about gifting their children money, the attorney’s office said.

The couple each pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion in January.

Mark Reimer’s sentence includes a year of supervised release following two years in prison. Ana Reimer was sentenced to 24 months of probation.

An investigation by the IRS Criminal Division led to the case.