Alex Acevedo, the son of former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo, will follow his father and brother to federal prison for filing bogus tax returns.
Alex Acevedo, a registered nurse who took on lobbying work for a firm launched by his brother, was sentenced to two months in prison Wednesday. He was indicted on tax charges alongside his father and brother, Michael, in 2021 and was found guilty early this year.
The tax violations by the Acevedos were discovered by investigators engaged in a long-term investigation of political corruption in Springfield, a probe that ultimately led to the indictment of one-time state House speaker Michael Madigan, who is set to go to trial in April.
Alex Acevedo was the only one of the three to go to trial, arguing that he mistakenly failed to report his income from lobbying on tax returns he filed in 2016 and 2018. During the sentencing hearing, Alex Acevedo said he accepted responsibility for his crimes.
“I am ashamed and remorseful and sorry for all the wrong I have done,” Acevedo said, later noting that he had picked up extra shifts as a nurse and was working seven days a week to pay off the $10,000 he stills owes the IRS.
The prison term handed down by U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang is shorter than the six-month sentence his father got and longer than the one-month sentence his brother received in March.
Alex Acevedo’s lawyer had asked for a probation only, while the government had sought 10 to 16 months behind bars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Chapman pointed out that Acevedo had contested his guilt at trial and, in a post-trial motion, challenged the evidence against him As a lobbyist and son of a longtime political figure, Acevedo should have been well aware of tax laws, Chapman argued.
“You can’t be a lobbyist in Springfield and not have knowledge of tax consequences,” Chapman said, noting that Acevedo filed false returns not because of a misunderstanding but “because he had discounted the possibility of getting caught.”
At the trial, prosecutors argued that Acevedo’s brother’s lobbying firm, Apex Strategies, was a “black box” that the brothers thought tax authorities could not penetrate.
The firm did not issue tax records indicating Alex Acevedo had been paid by the firm, and Acevedo did not list tens of thousands of dollars he was paid by Apex on his returns for 2016 nor 2018.
Michael Acevedo, a former sheriff’s officer who started Apex in 2015, pleaded guilty to failing to file tax returns from 2016 to 2018 despite making six-figure sums for his lobbying work.
Edward Acevedo pleaded guilty to charges of underreporting income from his own consulting firm.
