A Monroe, North Carolina resident was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for attempting to interfere with the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to court documents, between October 2007 and September 2011, Billy Darryl Floyd committed acts in order to obstruct and impede the Internal Revenue Service. These acts include filing false income tax returns, which falsely reported that his income was zero. Additionally, Floyd submitted fictitious “Surety Bonds” to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) attempting to satisfy his outstanding tax liability. Floyd also disrupted the IRS sale of property seized from him to satisfy his outstanding tax liabilities by threatening IRS employees conducting the sale and threatening to sue the buyer of the property. At the sale, Floyd falsely told potential buyers that the sale was illegal and that they would not receive good title to the property. These actions caused IRS personnel to halt the public sale of this property. Floyd’s obstructive acts caused a tax loss of approximately $170,471.

In addition to the term of prison imposed, U.S. District Court Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. ordered Floyd to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $170,471 in restitution to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Gregory Bailey of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.