On April 9, 2025, a Dillsburg man, Scott A. Smith, pled guilty in federal court. He pled guilty to the willful filing of false individual income tax returns for the tax years 2021 and 2022. Special Agent Waylon Wilcox, Middle District of Pennsylvania. He pleaded guilty to hiding tens of millions of dollars in income, which allowed him to pay millions less in taxes.
Wilcox’s plan included submitting fraudulent income tax returns for the years 2021 and 2022. Lastly, in 2021 he was drastically failing to report his true amount of income—an underreporting of approximately $8,511,238. By doing so, he fraudulently avoided paying taxes of maybe $2,180,452. He continued with the plan again in 2022. By grossly underreporting his income by about $4,599,532, he was able to save himself about $1,098,623 in taxes.
These charges are based on Wilcox’s conduct in the market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). He purchased 97 pieces of digital art from a collection called the “CryptoPunks.” This collection features 10,000 never-before-seen art characters.
IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to unraveling complex financial schemes involving virtual currencies and non-fungible token (NFT) transactions designed to conceal taxable income. - Yury Kruty, Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge
Sheen faces a maximum penalty of six years in prison. In addition to the period of imprisonment, he would be subject to a period of supervised release and a fine. The specific sentence will be up to the wisdom of the court, but must take into account federal sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
In today’s economic environment, it’s more important than ever that the American people feel confident that everyone is playing by the rules and paying the taxes they owe. - Yury Kruty, Philadelphia Field Office Special Agent in Charge
