Former US attorney for Nevada gets prison time in tax case

LAS VEGAS (AP) - A lawyer in Las Vegas who served as U.S. attorney in Nevada from 1975 to 1977 has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for failing to file taxes on some $1 million in income.

Lawrence J. Semenza II also was sentenced Wednesday to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay about $290,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service for failing to file personal and corporate taxes from 2006 to 2010.

Semenza pleaded guilty in August 2014 to three misdemeanor charges of willful failure to file a tax return.

He apologized at sentencing, defense attorney George Kelesis said Thursday.

"He understands the severity of his mistakes," Kelesis said.

U.S. District Judge James Mahan ordered the 72-year-old Semenza to surrender for prison by April 17.

Kelesis said his client's law license will be suspended by the Nevada State Bar, but he plans to seek reinstatement after his release from prison.

"He wants to come back and make things right," Kelesis said.

IRS investigations chief John Collins in Las Vegas called the case important because of Semenza's former position as a top federal law enforcer in Nevada.

"It is especially egregious that a former federal prosecutor should try to skirt his own tax obligations," Collins said in a statement. "No one, regardless of current or former position, is above the law."