A Cumming, Ga., chiropractor pleaded guilty Tuesday to filing a false income tax return, after his trial revealed he hid income from the IRS by writing checks to fake companies.

Michael J. Falite, 41, owns and operates a chiropractic practice in Alpharetta, Ga., known as “Falite Family Chiropractic,” which was incorporated as an LLC in 2000. In 2002, acting against the advice of his accountant, he filed a federal tax return for the chiropractic practice using a fraudulent trust scheme. The 2002 tax return attributed 90 percent of the income from the chiropractic clinic to a non-existent company known as “Abundance Investments.”

No tax return was filed by or on behalf of Abundance Investments, and no tax was paid on the income attributed to that company on the Falite Family Chiropractic tax return.

Bank account records showed Falite wrote checks from the chiropractic practice to Abundance Investments and other non-existent companies, which he then endorsed and deposited into bank accounts in names other than his own or Falite Family Chiropractic.

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