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Criminal Justice

Former Moody’s GC gets prison time for tax-filing failure on $54M income while life ‘all fell apart’

By Debra Cassens Weiss

October 29, 2024, 9:06 am CDT

Updated: The former general counsel at the Moody’s Corp., a financial services company, was sentenced to eight months in prison last week for failing to file tax returns while earning $54 million.

Former general counsel John Goggins, 63, of Chatham, New Jersey, was sentenced Oct. 24 after pleading guilty to willfully failing to pay tax returns during a four-year period. He has already paid court-ordered restitution of $3.11 million and faces an additional fine of $40,000, according to an Oct. 24 press release from the Department of Justice.

Law360 had coverage of the sentencing hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andre M. Espinosa of the District of New Jersey.

Trial attorney Kenneth Vert of the DOJ’s Tax Division argued that Goggins deserved 22 months in prison, according to Law360. Vert said Goggins “only filed returns where the tax authority caught him for not filing,” and his behavior amounted to “deliberate defiance of the tax law.”

The lawyer for Goggins, Sharon L. McCarthy, sought probation for her client, Law360 reported. She acknowledged that the case was “puzzling.” Goggins was able to perform well in his job while his personal life “all fell apart,” she said.

His problems included failing to renew his law license and failing to make car payments, resulting in the vehicle being repossessed twice.

Goggins was stressed by a difficult marriage, memory impairment and the 2015 death of his daughter, according to courtroom remarks cited by Law360. He is now getting mental health treatment.

Goggins “regrets and accepts full responsibility” for failing to file tax returns, according to a statement provided to Law.com and Law.360.

“He is grateful to the court for considering the comprehensive measures of accountability and restitution he has taken in connection with his misdemeanor offenses,” the statement said. “He looks forward to putting this matter behind him and will be timely filing all tax returns going forward.”

Updated Oct. 29 at 2:05 p.m. to correct the amount of the fine and a misattribution.