Getty TV personality Mike 'The Situation' Sorrentino.
Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino spent eight months in a New York federal prison for intentionally falsifying business and personal tax returns between 2010 and 2012.
Sorrentino was indicted in 2014, pleading guilty to tax evasion and concealing income. In 2018, he was sentenced to eight months in prison, ordered to pay $10,000 in fines and complete 500 hours of community service. He was released from prison in September, 2019. His release will air tonight, Thursday, March 5, 2020, at 8 p.m. Eastern on MTV’s reality series, “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
Here’s what we know about “The Situation” going to prison:
Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino Defrauded the United States
“The Situation” made his first appearance on MTV’s hit reality series, “Jersey Shore” in 2009 and remained a cast member until 2012. He returned to MTV’s spin-off series “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation” in 2018. The business and personal income he reported for 2010 to 2012 was not accurate, and he knowingly falsified the information in his tax returns, reported CNN.
According to the Washington Post, the reality star earned approximately $2 million in 2011 but failed to file a personal tax return for that year. Additionally, Forbes reports that he and his brother, Marc Sorrentino, filed false tax returns for 2010, 2011 and 2012. He and his brother knowingly falsified tax returns on nearly $9 million in total, reported NBC News.
The 2014 indictment in the case of the United States of America v. Marc Sorrentino and Michael Sorrentino, a/k/a “The Situation” delivered by The Grand Jury in and for the District of New Jersey charged the brothers with one count of Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.
“The Situation” Owes the IRS Up to $1.5 million in Taxes
The Sorrentino brothers made their money through several different business entities described in the indictment. They established separate LLCs as partnerships or S corporations in which the brothers held ownership interests, and profited through the celebrity “The Situation” earned from his appearance on the reality show. These LLCs, and the Sorrentino brothers, received income from “The Situation’s” personal and TV appearances, a vodka partnership, an online clothing business, an autobiography and a comic book that depicted “The Situation” as a superhero. “The Situation” also endorsed vitamins, DVDs, clothing lines, jewelry, tuxedos and sunglasses.
Income from the separate businesses were deposited into business bank accounts but funds were used to pay for personal items including luxury automobiles and clothing, and the brothers withdrew cash from their business accounts. Between 2010 and 2012, the brothers earned $8.9 million in income through the various LLCs which all required specific tax forms for business and personal income to be filed, reported The United States Department of Justice.
Gregg Mark, Sorrentino’s accountant admitted that he filed the fraudulent returns in December 2015 in federal court. The amount of money the brothers failed to pay the IRS was between $550,000 to $1.5 million, reported NBC News.
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