Mercer County Professor Convicted of Tax Evasion and Filing False Tax Returns

Princeton Junction resident faces severe penalties after being found guilty of evading $1.25 million in taxes over four years.

Princeton Junction, N.J. - A Mercer County man has been found guilty of evading federal income taxes and filing false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced Friday, August 16, 2024. Gordian A. Ndubizu, 69, of Princeton Junction, New Jersey, was convicted on August 15, 2024, on all eight counts of an indictment that included four counts of tax evasion and four counts of filing false tax returns for the tax years 2014 through 2017.

The guilty verdict, which came after just two hours of jury deliberation following a four-day trial, was delivered in Trenton federal court before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi.

During the years in question, Ndubizu was employed as an accounting professor at a Pennsylvania university and co-owned Healthcare Pharmacy in Trenton, New Jersey. As an S corporation, the pharmacy's income was supposed to be reported on Ndubizu's personal tax returns. However, Ndubizu was found to have manipulated the pharmacy's books, inflating the costs of goods sold to reduce the reported profits. This fraudulent accounting allowed Ndubizu to underreport approximately $3.28 million in income, resulting in the evasion of roughly $1.25 million in taxes.

The trial revealed that Ndubizu falsely identified certain wire transfers as payments for goods sold by the pharmacy when, in reality, these transfers were directed to personal bank accounts under his control and to accounts in Nigeria linked to an automotive company he owned. Additionally, Ndubizu's tax returns for the years 2014 through 2017 falsely claimed he had no financial interest in or authority over any foreign bank accounts.

Each of the tax evasion counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Each count of filing a false tax return carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.