Feds: Basking Ridge surgeon evaded millions in taxes

A plastic surgeon with a practice in the Basking Ridge section of Bernards has been accused of evading federal income taxes on more than $10 million of income.

By ripping off the federal government, authorities said, David Evdokimow, 54, of Harding, led a lavish lifestyle. Now he is facing prison time.

Evdokimow was charged in federal court with conspiring to defraud the United States, four counts of personal income tax evasion and three counts of corporate tax evasion.

His attorney, however, says Evdokimow was the victim of an unscrupulous fake accountant — who also is being prosecuted and may be used as a witness against Evdokimow. Once he discovered what was wrong, he paid the government the taxes that he owed, his lawyer said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey alleges that Evdokimow paid his personal expenses from the corporate account of his business, De’Omilia Plastic Surgery, then falsely attributing these expenses to De’Omilia’s corporate operation.

By doing this, he earned an additional $3.1 million in income, which he failed to report, authorities said.

He also allegedly funneled and diverted millions of dollars in De’Omilia income into the bank accounts of shell corporations that he had conspirators create. He used these accounts to pay for $2.4 million in designer apparel, jewelry, vacations, artwork and multiple residents, authorities said.

Evdokimow also is accused of cashing out $339,465 in income from patients that he failed to report on his federal income tax returns.

Authorities said the tax evasion cost the U.S. government $2.76 million.

Evdokimow’s attorney, James Kridel, said Friday that his client is a victim of a scam.

Evdokimow and his company sued his former accountant in 2012 in U.S. District Court. The lawsuit says Ginger Sweeton, a Tennessee resident, misrepresented herself as an accountant and gave Evdokimow bad advice, which led him to run afoul of the IRS.

The lawsuit has been placed on hold because Sweeton accepted a plea deal from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to court records.

Each of the counts with which Evdokimow is charged carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Evdokimow’s professional website says he was a “responder at ‘Ground Zero’ after 9/11” and that he “embodies several characteristics” such as “honesty, integrity and perfectionism.”