April 8. By Dave Yochum. Cornelius attorney John Hanzel has been indicted with three counts of filing false tax returns for tax years 2012 through 2014, according to U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray and Matthew D. Line, special agent in charge of the Charlotte Field Office of the Internal Revenue Service.

From around 2011 to the present, Hanzel was an attorney with the law firm John F. Hanzel, P.A, located at 19425 Liverpool, at the corner of Sefton Park.

The U.S. Attorney says the law practice includes counseling clients to set up offshore corporations and offshore bank accounts to purportedly protect income and assets from creditors, including the IRS, according to Murray’s office.

Hanzel’s office was raided by federal agents several years ago. At the time he said it related to clients.

During the relevant time period, Hanzel did not have a personal bank account and did not pay himself a salary from his law firm, U.S. Attorney Murray said.

Instead, Hanzel wrote checks from his law firm account to pay for personal expenses including utility bills, mortgage payments, and credit cards, according to the indictment.

Hanzel fraudulently deducted personal expenses paid out of his law firm bank account as business expenses, including by falsely categorizing such as expenses as costs of goods sold and other deductions, U.S. Attorney Murray alleges.

From 2011 through 2014, Hanzel reported minimal income on his Federal Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, and paid minimal federal income tax, Murray states. However, Hanzel actually received substantial income that he hid from the IRS by falsely deducting personal expenses as business expenses and by living out of his business bank account.