Former City Councilman Chaim Deutsch was sentenced Thursday to three months in prison for dodging nearly $83,000 in taxes.
Deutsch wrote off personal expenses — like personal car and phone bills, groceries and children’s clothing — as corporate deductions tied to his real estate management business from tax years 2013 to 2015.
During that period Deutsch was among the highest earners of outside income in the City Council, when the practice was still allowed.
“People who have options, and cheat nonetheless, are not sympathetic,” Magistrate Judge James Cott said. “A public official who knowingly filed false tax returns for three years must go to jail.”
Deutsch planned to sell his family home to pay back the $107,000 he owes the government. He also must pay a $5,500 fine.
The 52-year-old Brooklyn pol once represented neighborhoods including Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Midwood. He founded the Shomrim neighborhood watch group in 1993.
Now, he works as the property manager of a Brooklyn apartment complex, earning a six-figure salary. He said he finds his new job fulfilling and takes satisfaction in making sure clogged toilets and cracked windows get fixed.
“I was wrong for what I did. I should never have tried to avoid paying my fair share of taxes,” Deutsch said in Manhattan Federal Court.
He sought a non-jail sentence of one year probation for the misdemeanor offense. Federal prosecutors asked for roughly one year behind bars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eli Mark said Deutsch only stopped filing bogus taxes because he was caught in 2015.
“No one, not even elected officials or public servants, can avoid their tax obligations,” Mark said.
Among those who attended the hearing in support of Deutsch was Council Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn).
“While this sentence does little to impact others, it will cause terrible damage to Mr. Deutsch’s family by disrupting his new employment and make it harder for him to complete his financial obligations. Incarceration is not the only punishment our society should deem just,” attorney Henry Mazurek said.
