Twin Cities investment adviser sentenced for tax evasion

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Twin Cities investment adviser has been sentenced to prison for using the business to cheat his father and other clients out of nearly $2 million.

Joel W. Carlson, 43, of Vadnais Heights, was sentenced Friday to 3ˆ½ years in prison. Carlson also was ordered to pay restitution to his victims for the full amount along with another $1.2 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

In September, Carlson pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of tax evasion.

According to his guilty plea and court documents, Carlson in 2010 and 2011 deposited client investments, as well as money from his father, into an account that he tapped for his own use. For those years, Carlson also failed to file personal income tax returns as well as for 2005 through 2007.

Carlson was 25 when he joined the Roseville-based business founded by his mother, eventually rising to president.

"Mr. Carlson engaged in selfish and calculated actions to enrich himself and his immediate family," the prosecution said in a pre-sentencing court filing. "(He) took advantage of his parents' unfailing trust that he would do right by them."

Defense attorneys argued for a prison term of not more than two years, the Star Tribune (http://strib.mn/1902IOT ) reported. In a late January filing, the defense noted that Carlson had never been in trouble with the law before and accepted responsibility for the fraud he committed without using "his problem with alcohol as an excuse."

His attorneys also said Carlson took care of his father, a minister and marriage counselor, until he died in October. His mother also has since died. The defense added that Carlson was an anonymous kidney donor.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com