A Downtown attorney with an advanced degree in tax law was sentenced Wednesday to four months in prison for failing to file federal income tax returns. Marvin Abrams, 49, of Wilkinsburg, pleaded guilty in September in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh to failing to file returns in 1993 and 1994. He earned nearly $600,000 in those years and owed about $68,220 in back taxes, court records show. Abrams also is head of one of the city's largest minority law firms, Abrams and Associates. Abrams has since paid the Internal Revenue Service $80,000 and is waiting for a calculation of interest and penalties, said his attorney, J. Alan Johnson. In testimony yesterday, Abrams took responsibility for his tax woes but also blamed poor record keeping and a dispute with a former partner. He said he has hired a full-time bookkeeper and now files 'reasonably timely returns.' Under cross-examination by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nelson Cohen, Abrams admitted that he still hasn't filed tax returns for 1995 or 1996. A Pennsylvania Bar Association survey ranked Abrams and Associates the largest minority law firm in the city in 1998. The firm declined to comment on Abrams' status yesterday. Abrams earned a law degree at Duquesne University in 1981 and a master's degree in tax law from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He now works almost exclusively on personal injury and workers compensation cases, he said. In 1995, Abrams won a Northside Leadership Conference award for his legal efforts on behalf of low-income housing projects. U.S. District Senior Judge Maurice B. Cohill Jr. rejected a request to reduce Abrams' sentence based on his community service, family commitments and efforts to improve the financial side of his law practice. 'When you have a white-collar defendant, he is expected to perform good deeds over the course of his career,' Cohen argued. For the past three years, Abrams has volunteered 24 hours per month at Jacob's Well Ministries in New Kensington, Westmoreland County, mentoring and tutoring teen-age boys involved in the juvenile justice system, according to Johnson. Abrams also founded 'An Abrams Christmas,' a project that distributes clothing, food, toys and money to 25 families, court documents state. Testifying on Abrams' behalf, Jacob's Well Pastor Elder Teralyn Thompson said she was concerned about the impact his conviction would have on a community with few black male role models. 'Youth have a tendency to have mistrust once they find flaws in role models,' she said. Abrams also was ordered to serve one year supervised release, including four months' home detention, and pay a $10,000 fine. He could have received 14 months of confinement under federal sentencing guidelines. Cohill said he would consider a request by prosecutors to bar Abrams from practicing in federal court. The Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will consider whether Abrams will be disbarred or suspended from practicing in state courts, said Jack Doherty, chief counsel for the board. Christopher Zurawsky can be reached at (412) 391-8793.

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