Former Statesboro City Councilman Will Britt sentenced for tax evasion

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - Former Statesboro City Councilman, Will Britt, was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison Monday, after pleading guilty back in April to tax evasion.

Will Britt served on Statesboro City Council for three terms beginning in the early 2000′s. But it’s his ties to a business group that’s landing him in federal prison.

WTOC shoot video in 2017 of federal agents raiding Britt’s home, pulling out boxes of evidence that helped ultimately build the case against him. At that point, the FBI told us Britt had been under investigation for more than a year.

And according to the Department of Justice, that investigation stemmed from Britt’s role as a co-owner of a group of bars all around the state.

According to investigators, Britt gave false information to an accountant for the preparation of tax returns related to some of the businesses.

Specifically, Britt misrepresented the businesses’ true ownership, understated the bars’ income and omitted cash distributions to the owners. That caused Britt and other owners of the bars to file false tax returns with the IRS by paying less than what they actually owed in income tax.

Back in April of this year, Britt pleaded guilty to tax evasion, along with one of the other owners who did one month prior.

So Monday in U.S. District Court, Britt was sentenced to two years and nine months in federal prison, followed by three years supervised release.

The judge also ordered that Britt pay back just over $350,000.00 in restitution.

Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.