Source: US FBI
Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Mary S. Scriven today sentenced Brian Davison to three years in federal prison for making false and fraudulent statements on tax returns. As part of his sentence, the court also ordered restitution to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $6,293,592, the amount of tax loss to the United States. Davison pleaded guilty on March 24, 2025.
According to court documents, Davison was the co-founder and former CEO of the Tampa-based real estate investment firm Equialt, LLC, which was placed into judicial receivership following a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission complaint in February 2020. Between October 2018 and December 2020, Davison caused multiple personal tax returns to be filed, which in total underreported his income from Equialt, LLC and other business entities by at least $29.7 million. This willful underreporting resulted in a tax loss to the United States of $6,293,592.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, in conjunction with the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Tampa. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Adam J. Duso.