House Staffer By Day, Prisoner On Weekends

The chief of staff to Rep. Bennie Thompson spends his days in the halls of Congress and his weekends in jail for tax evasion, after the Mississippi Democrat violated his pledge to fire his wealthy chief if the aide was found guilty of stiffing the treasury of $150,000.

Issac Lanier Avant made $170,000 a year in Congressional pay, yet the court found he didn’t pay any tax returns for seven years. Prosecutors said he was dishonest throughout their investigation, and when he did file tax returns, he lied about donating $50,000 to a religious group and tried to take a “bizarre” tax write-off for rollerblading. Prosecutors asked for a one-year prison term, but Avant was sentenced in January 2017 to a month-long stint in jail followed by a year of weekends in jail.

Between 2008 and 2012, Avant didn’t have any federal income taxes withheld from his pay after, a U.S. Department of Justice release reads, “he caused a form to be filed with his employer that falsely claimed he was exempt from federal income taxes.”

More