Federal judge sentences state Rep. Earle Banks to probation for tax crime

Longtime state Rep. Earle Banks, a Democrat from Jackson who pleaded guilty in May to evading the payment of federal taxes, has been sentenced to two years of supervised probation and ordered to pay nearly $85,000 in restitution.

Banks, according to news reports, has already paid the restitution.

Banks, who was recently reelected after running unopposed for the Mississippi House, was sentenced Monday in federal court for the Southern District of Mississippi by Judge Carlton Reeves.

The maximum penalty Banks could have faced was three years in prison and a fine of $250,000 followed by one year of supervised release.

Banks will continue serving in the Mississippi House during his probation. He has been a member of the House since 1993.

The Mississippi Constitution prohibits people convicted of most state or federal felonies from serving in elected office. But Section 44 of the state constitution does not bar people convicted of federal tax crimes from serving in elected office.

According to court documents unsealed in May, Banks received more than $500,000 in 2018 but only reported income of $38,237 on his federal income tax return.

Banks’ attorney Rob McDuff said in May, “Mr. Banks has cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s office and today had the opportunity to speak directly to the judge and admit that he made a mistake in failing to report on his tax return the proceeds from the sale of land that had belonged to his family for many years.”

Banks is an attorney, funeral home director and ran unsuccessfully for the state Supreme Court in 2012.

READ MORE: Longtime state Rep. Earle Banks pleads guilty to federal tax crime