By Dan Horn
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Federal prosecutors asked a judge Thursday to act quickly against two Greater Cincinnati men accused of defrauding the government of more than $30 million in tax revenue.

Unless immediate action is taken, prosecutors said, the Internal Revenue Service will be forced to spend millions of dollars and years of investigative work trying to track down lost revenue.

A complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court claimed that Wilson M. Graham, of Mason, and Homer Richardson, of Loveland, continue to promote and profit from an illegal tax scheme despite repeated warnings from the IRS.

Prosecutors accuse the men of setting up "sham trusts" that let clients avoid paying taxes on large portions of income.

The men deny they are doing anything wrong, but the U.S. Attorney's office asked Judge Herman J. Weber on Wednesday to bar Graham and Richardson from setting up the trusts.

On Thursday, prosecutors went a step further by asking the judge to put the case on a fast track.

"Graham and Richardson's scheme undermines public confidence in the federal tax system and incites non-compliance with the internal revenue laws," prosecutors said in their complaint. "If (they) are not enjoined now, they will cause even greater damage to the United States."

Prosecutors contend the tax scheme is so large and so broad that it will require IRS agents more than 52,000 hours of work to bring Graham and Richardson's clients into compliance with tax laws. If they continue to solicit new clients, prosecutors said, the workload will grow.

The IRS says Graham and Richardson sold "sham trust packages" that hid income under the guise of charitable or family trusts. The agency claims clients saved, on average, $88,000 a year and paid as much as $15,000 to set up the trusts.

Graham said Thursday he continues to sell the trusts because they are appropriate and legal.

E-mail dhorn@enquirer.com