Mercer County Professor Sentenced To 24 Months For Tax Evasion

MERCER COUNTY, NJ - A Mercer County professor was sentenced to 24 months in prison for evading federal income taxes and filing false tax returns, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said.

Gordian A. Ndubizu, of Princeton Junction, New Jersey, was convicted on Aug. 15, 2024, of all eight counts of an indictment charging him with four counts of tax evasion and four counts of filing false tax returns in tax years 2014 through 2017, following a four-day trial before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi.

From 2014 through 2017, Ndubizu was a professor of accounting at a university in Pennsylvania as well as the co-owner of Healthcare Pharmacy in Trenton, New Jersey.

Healthcare Pharmacy was organized as an S corporation, the income of which flowed through to Ndubizu and his wife and was to be reported on their personal income tax returns, according to court documents.

Ndubizu prepared fraudulent books and records for Healthcare Pharmacy inflating the pharmacy’s costs of goods sold to reduce and underreport the pharmacy’s actual profits flowing through to Ndubizu and his wife, court documents said.

Ndubizu also identified certain wire transfers as payments to purchase goods sold by the pharmacy when those wire transfers were in fact made to personal bank accounts under his control and to bank accounts in Nigeria linked to an automotive company under Ndubizu’s control, according to court papers.

Each of Ndubizu’s tax returns for tax years 2014 through 2017 falsely underreported his income and falsely reported that he had no financial interest in or signature authority over any foreign bank accounts.

Ndubizu failed to report approximately $3.28 million in income from the pharmacy, resulting in the evasion of approximately $1.25 million in tax due and owing, Khanna said.

Have a correction or news tip? Email sarah.salvadore@patch.com