A Cumberland County businessman has admitted to multiple felony tax charges. Christopher Harrison, 58, entered a guilty plea to seven counts of Attempt to Evade or Defeat a Tax in Wake County Superior Court, the North Carolina Department of Revenue reported.
Wake County Superior Court Judge C. Douglas Green handed down an eight to 19-month suspended prison sentence and placed Harrison under supervised probation for 18 months. During his probation, Mr. Harrison is ordered to pay restitution totaling $714,425.68. Court documents revealed that Harrison omitted over $24 million in taxable income from his North Carolina Individual Income Tax Returns over a span of seven years.
The discovery of Harrison’s fiscal indiscretions came during an internal review at EbenConcepts, an insurance corporation where he served as the CEO/CFO. The review showed Harrison taking company funds for personal purposes, leading to his removal from his executive positions. Harrison’s subsequent bankruptcy filing further exposed his misuse of business funds for personal expenses…