New Orleans City Council President Jason Williams pleads not guilty to tax fraud charges

New Orleans City Council President and declared candidate for Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams appeared via video conference in federal court on Friday and pleaded not guilty to charges of tax fraud.

Williams was indicted last month. He is accused of inflating business expenses between 2014 and 2018 to avoid paying nearly $200,000 in taxes and failing to report several cash payments of over $10,000, and was indicted on 11 felony counts.

The hearing took place in front of federal Eastern District of Louisiana Magistrate Judge Karen Wells Roby.

The federal indictment alleges that Williams and another attorney at his law firm, Nicole Burdett, instructed a tax preparer to file false information on tax forms in order to reduce Williams’ tax liability.

Read more: https://thelensnola.org/2020/07/10/new-orleans-city-council-president-jason-williams-pleads-not-guilty-to-tax-fraud-charges/