Brooklyn Church Pastor Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion Scheme
Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - Earlier today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Paul Mitchell, the lead pastor of a church and president of a daycare pleaded guilty to a criminal information charging him with one count of tax evasion.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York and Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) New York announced the guilty plea.
According to court filings, Mitchell was the founder of a church and an educational daycare, both located in Brooklyn, where he served as the lead pastor at the church and the president of the daycare. Between 2015 and 2022, Mitchell used the organizations’ credit cards to pay for his personal expenses, including men’s clothing, thousands of dollars in jewelry, luxury watches, and life insurance premiums. He also wrote checks from the church’s bank accounts to pay his own credit card bills and personal income taxes.
As part of the scheme, Mitchell frequently withdrew large amounts of cash from bank accounts for the church and the daycare and transferred funds from those accounts into his own bank accounts. He failed to report his use of the stolen funds as income on his personal income tax returns, which significantly reduced his tax burden and allowed him to evade the payment of personal income taxes. As a result of his conduct, Mitchell caused a tax loss of approximately $2,906,072 to the IRS and approximately $316,699 to New York State between 2015 and 2022.
Mitchell faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, restitution, and fines of up to $250,000. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The government’s case is being handled by the Public Integrity Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Miranda Gonzalez for the Eastern District of New York and Trial Attorney Catriona M. Coppler of the Justice Department’s Tax Section of the Criminal Division are prosecuting this case.
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Source: Justice.gov
