Seabolt lied to me, and caused me hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses
A summary of my experience
The number of people that have contacted me because Kevin has lied to them and mangled their accounting is shocking. It looks like Mr Seabolt will have some future litigations from others who have paid HUGE IRS penalties for his work and lack of work.
CAN YOU AFFORD AN INCOMPETENT AND DISHONEST ACCOUNTANT?
Kevin Seabolt's License is now listed as SUSPENDED by the Arizona Board of Accountancies website!
LOOK AT THE PHOTO ON THE SIDE ---------------------------------------->>>
FACT: KEVIN SEABOLT'S ACCOUNTING LICENSE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED!!!!!!
Click below to see his CPA license status on the Board's website
while on the Board's website, read about the details of his previous Board sanctions.
Update 11/18/24: I continue to be contacted by people harmed by Kevin Seabolt in ways similar to my own experience. If you have been harmed, I may be able to help you.
Update 11/8/24; I have been contacted by an attorney for a former business partner of Mr. Seabolt. They believe that they have been lied to and cheated and they are preparing for a mandatory arbitration. I have put them in contact with my attorneys that successfully resolved my case. This is why I have this website. To warn people so they do not get harmed, and to assist those that have been. To be clear, use caution. Kevin Seabolt is a lying liar that tells lies.
News update 11/1/24: No new information on Mr. Seabolt has been put on the Board of Accountancy's website. Mr. Seabolt was offered to voluntarily accept having his license put on probation at his Board hearing. He was also instructed he would need to complete classes in ethics and tax preparation. He was given 15 days to accept the proposed remediation. It is noteworthy that this would not be the first time he has been punished by the Board.
From his previous case we learn: "II. FINDINGS OF FACT 1. On September 13, 2019, Board staff received a consumer complaint alleging unprofessional behavior by Respondent. Specifically, the complaint alleged Respondent provided faulty advice resulting in thousands of dollars in penalties and hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes, and has since refused to return a phone call, email, or text, and instructed his staff not to speak with the Complainant"
The board largely upheld the complaint and Kevin had his license put on probation. He has continued to practice in the same careless way. If he has done you taxes in the past you would be wise to have those returns reviewed by an honest and competent CPA. On 10/21/24 Kevin was given 15 days to accept the Board of Accountancy's proposed consequences.
I will keep you all informed of how this is resolved. Since Kevin has problems responding to things before the deadlines, I am betting he does not respond to the boards offer in a timely fashion and they will need to take additional action.
News update: 10/21/2024
Today I met with the Arizona Board of Accountancy. Kevin Seabolt was present with his attorney Flynn Carey. They went 1st and asked that the Board give Kevin no consequences for his malpractice and dishonesty on my case.
I then had the opportunity to inform the Board members that I had refused Kevin's settlement offer of $500,000 that required that I take down this website and withdraw my board complaint.
I informed them of Kevin's MP settlement for his policy limits of $500,000 and the over $100,000 additional paid to me by Kevin as part of the settlement to avoid going to trial. ( it is nice to be done with Kevin, but I wont help hide his lies or malpractice)
I explained to the Board that Kevin failed to represent me to the IRS in the gift tax audit and that he has admitted this under penalty of perjury. He failed to respond to the IRS audit in any way. Kevin also admitted under the penalty of perjury that the over $1 million in penalties due to filing every single one of my tax returns late was due to his inaccurate and unprofessional advice. Kevin lied to me about his work with the IRS and about his lack of work with the IRS. I mentioned how he filed my last return for $1, basically just giving the IRS the middle finger. The IRS was not amused.
Seabolt and Vincent (now out of business, yeah, your welcome) failed to follow the CPA Code of Professional conduct in many ways.
1- he failed his duty to represent me in the gift tax audit.
2- He failed to file timely returns resulting in over $1million of penalties.
3-He failed to have integrity, and he lied to me and to the IRS.
4-He made deliberate misrepresentations about my case and blamed his own failures on his subordinates whom he did not supervise adequately. Carla, you are now Kevin's blame magnet.
5-The professional code requires "due Care" and he did not show even minimal care.
6-The Code requires high internal quality control procedures and he did not have those in place.
Under penalty of perjury Kevin has acknowledge the following facts:
* "Other than signing the IRS form 872 I did not perform any other activities during the IRS examination" "To my knowledge, neither did any other staff at S and V."
* "The firm did not RESPOND to any IRS requests for documents"
* I never spoke with the IRS Gift Tax Attorney or revenue agent who was conducting the examination".
* "I also take full responsibility for the firms failure to aprticipate in the IRS examination. to provide any requested or other documents, to contact the examiners, or to perfrom routine services that are generally performed by professionals in representing individual clients during IRS examinations"
These facts are hard for him to deny, because I have them in writing signed by Kevin, under penalty of perjury.
The board asked us all to step out of the room so they could talk about the case in private. I begged them to ask me any questions, but not one of them had a single question for me.
They voted to re-offer to Kevin the judgment they had previously offered him but he refused because he thought it too harsh. Kevin has 15 days to accept their offer. God I hope he refuses, because it is so weak. (11/1/2024 update: Kevin's CPA license is suspended, FAFO!)
The Board proposes putting his license on probation until he completes some coursework about ethics (don't lie to you clients and the IRS) and some competency course work (about the fact that it is illegal and has large penalties to fail to file tax returns on time.)
So for now Kevin is still "working from home" on peoples taxes and using Molly Goodin who he previously fired but has now rehired to assist him. He has a business arrangement to send tax returns to Carla Savocca in Florida, who "helped" on all of my returns that had over $1 million in penalties and had to be redone from scratch.
If he accepts the Boards anemic ruling he will have his AZ CPA license on probation (again! He was also on probation previously for another client he screwed over).
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) at the IRS is now working on him, and they seem far more interested in him, and in the people he is or has been working with. Birds of a feather.
As always, I'm happy to help anyone and be a free resource to anyone doing their due diligence on Kevin Seabolt's ethics or his work quality and competence.
(480)435-4880
New update: 10/7/2024.
Kevin apparently sold his accounting firm or its list of clients to another firm, but that deal has fallen apart due to some kind of dishonesty by Kevin. Kevin is still doing taxes (yikes!) and using Carla Savoca just as he did on my taxes (read about that below). The IRS has taken a keen interest in Kevin and those working with him. It seems that my complaint is not the only one. He also lied to one of their agents. She was not amused. Kevin meets with the AZ Board of Accountancy in 2 weeks. They don't seem to have taken his ethical and professional failings very seriously, but the IRS seems to be extremely serious, about Kevin and his business partners. He has some legal mess in Florida about lying. If you know Don Dady, or invest with him, ask about his CFO. It appears that Kevin's was not hired in spite of his dishonesty and incompetence, but that it is considered a feature not a flaw. Do your own due diligence. Visits to this site are at an all time high. Call me if you need help getting started on your due diligence. 480-435-4880.
New update 9/12/24 Kevin I want to thank you for declining the Board of accountancies generous offer, and delaying your case. it now gives me the opportunity to attend. You are really not a good negotiator. I look forward to your hearing on October 21, 2024 at 815. I have info they will want to consider.
See the notes from the minutes by the board I have attached at the bottom of this page.
New update: 9/11/2024
Carla Savoka, I spoke with you today. I hope I was clear. You have played a major role in my case. Kevin Seabolt is dishonest and incompetent and he is harming people. You are aware. I use this website to warn people . You are a professional and you know better.
New update: 7/12/2024
Yesterday I received payment from Mr. Seabolt and his Malpractice carrier. The settlement amount far exceeds the offer I declined on 4/27/24. It included Kevin's FULL policy limits Of $500,000.00 and an cashiers check from "Seabolt and Vincent LLP" for six figures to make up the difference. This concludes my own financial claim against Kevin Seabolt.
I strongly suspect that he has wronged and continues to wrong other people. I have even heard from multiple people and I'm glad to help. Mr Seabolt continues to do some tax work. I am willing to help you. I have already done much of the work necessary for a case and I am willing to share it with you totally free.
As far as I know, Kevin continues to work with tax professionals like Carla Savoka who was involved in my tax cases managed by Kevin.
I adamantly refused to accept any settlement that required a non-disclosure agreement. This is because my primary intention is to prevent the harm I suffered from happening to others. To be totally clear, Kevin Seabolt is a liar. I declines multiple settlement offers that wanted this website to come down. So far about 200 people a month visit the site. (8/15/24 edit, that number has increased dramatically so hopefully people are becoming aware of the risk). I hope it is helpful in making prudent decisions affecting their tax preparation and investing.
It is my understanding that Mr. Seabolt continues to work in unregulated investments. He seems to target people who are wealthy and have large amounts of money to invest.
Companies that might be working with Kevin include D Squared ventures, DJK Capital management, Rewerk Lifestyle in Florida, and many others. Kevin appears to have ownership in several companies in Arizona and Florida.
If you are considering working with him in any capacity involving your money please reach out to me or do your own due diligence. My contact info is below. I get nothing from this, but I do hope to spare others the frustration, time, and money this has cost me.
If you are currently working with Kevin Seabolt or investing with him or companies that employ him you should be careful and prudent.
If you are a former client of Seabolt and Vincent, you may be at risk. Accountants who do bad work generate more IRS audits, and far more penalties.
Don Dady, I think I may be able to save you some serious grief. I have attempted to contact you, so I fear you may be working with Kevin because he is dishonest instead of in spite of it. If you need additional info I have what you need.
My Cell: 480-435-4880. My cell does not accept unknown callers, send me a message and I will call you back or we can arrange a call.
My Email: DarthHobbsMD@gmail.com
new update: 4/27/2024
Yesterday I received a settlement offer from Mr. Seabolt for $500,000. This is more than Mr Seabolts full malpractice policy limits and would require him to pay significant money out of his own pocket. I am willing to accept the financial reimbursement even though it is less than I have spent correcting his incompetence and lies, because I would like to be done with him, but I can't in good conscience because...
it demanded I take down this website that provides a fair warning to others that might be harmed. This is a big deal to Kevin. He does not want you to know what he did to us.
This website is here to protect others from enduring what we have. My wife and I are fortunate to have been able to resolve many of the issues Kevin caused with the IRS, but we also recognize that most people do not have the time (hundreds of hours and I'm not done yet) or the money (hundreds of thousand of dollars for experts) to fix this kind of mess.
I have received many phone calls from people who have seen this website and hopefully it has been able to save others the stress we have experienced. I won't accept hush money as if I am Stormy Daniels. His settlement offer does not even cover my expenses I have paid to fix his errors and lies.
I had over a million dollars of penalties related to poor work on my tax returns and $3.5 million expense related to an audit he did not even bother to respond to. He has signed a declaration under penalty of perjury admitting this. If you need a copy of it, just contact me.
I had an audit that Mr. Seabolt failed to respond to at all. He lied about his involvement in the audit. With the help a a great tax attorney and new excellent accountants I had a 3.5 million dollar judgment reversed. In the case of my audit Mr Seabolt was not only professionally incompetent he lied to me and to the IRS.
I get nothing from this website except the hope of helping another person avoid my predicament. In fact, having the website is preventing me from being paid the offered $500,000. I will instead move forward to a trial with my lawsuit.
I hope the information you see here is helpful to you as you seek good advice on tax issues. You are one of about 6 people a day that reads this site.
This is a matter of public concern. I do not care if you choose to use Mr. Seabolt as your CPA and I am not encouraging anyone to break a contract. I am voicing my concerns that also affect my community.
Here are my primary concerns.
1) Mr. Seabolt describes his practice on his website. thusly " Seabolt & Vincent is a high-caliber boutique practice focused exclusively on Ultra High Net Worth clients with complex estates, joint ventures, and closely held businesses". The mistakes he made on my returns and audit were so basic and obvious I would have been much better off to have walked into H & R block. They are malpractice and his attempt to buy my silence with a $500,000 settlement shows he knows he will lose at trial and he wants to continue to defraud people who are unaware of his incompetence and dishonesty.
2) Kevin Seabolt repeatedly lied to me about my status with my IRS audit. He actually failed to respond to the IRS at all. He acknowledges this now in writing under penalty of perjury. At the time he lied to me. He told me that he had a face to face meeting with an auditor to start the process, but at this time the IRS had already ruled against me due to his failure to even respond to the certified mail request he had received. He actually met with an excellent IRS collections agent (Mrs. J. Vega). She warned him she would seize my home if payment was not made. I did not learn of this until I received a certified letter from her notifying me of an IRS lien on my home.
BEWARE OF INVESTING WITH KEVIN OR WITH PEOPLE THAT WORK WITH KEVIN TO FIND INVESTORS. YOU ARE BEING TARGETED!!!
Mr. Seabolt knew that he had dropped the ball, but he compounded the mistake by repeatedly lying. Mr. Seabolt made a mistake. People are human and I can forgive this. He then lied to me, adding dishonesty to professional incompetence.
I spent 4 years fighting to save my home. With honest and intelligent experts who spent hundreds of hours working on our issues caused by Seabolt and Vincent I was able to reverse about $4.5 million dollars in penalties that could have been avoided with competent accounting or minimized by honesty.
NO ONE CAN AFFORD AN INCOMPETENT OR DISHONEST ACCOUNTANT.
I will do my best to warn others of the potential danger posed by Kevin Seabolt. I am using a public forum because this is a matter of public concern. No one needs a bad doctor or a bad accountant.
Kevin Seabolt repeatedly lied to me. I hired Seabolt to represent me in a gift tax audit. I met with him several times and he gave me positive reassurance that things were proceeding well. He is not cheap, but I felt that a good accountant was a good investment. Kevin did not contact the IRS as he assured me he had. He did not respond to the IRS in any way. He simply ignored the audit, so the IRS found against us.
I learned this when the IRS sent me a certified letter informing me that they were putting a lien on my home. Seabolt gave me other bad tax advice that resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in IRS penalties. I have spent over $400,000 having a good tax attorney and a good accountant fix serious errors in the taxes Kevin prepared. I am not done yet. It is worth it to have a good accountant do your taxes correctly the first time. It is best to have an honest, intelligent and hard working CPA represent you in matters with the IRS. Mr. Seabolt is none of those things.
To be clear, this is not just my personal opinion. Kevin Seabolt has signed a sworn declaration to the IRS that acknowledges under penalty of perjury that he "dropped the ball" and did not represent me in or at the level of a tax professional. I believe that is negligence. My ongoing issues with Seabolt are about correcting his errors and his dishonesty with me.
Here are some passages from Mr Seabolt's sworn declaration made under the penalty of perjury. If you need full copies, please contact me.
"I recommended that the clients file their 2016 form 1040 late. They accepted and without question, followed my recommendation that they do so."
"I did not explain to the clients that an IRS penalty for failure to file is 5% of the unpaid taxes for each month" the total was hundreds of thousands of dollars!
"on hindsight I should have recommended that the clients file their 2016 form 1040 and then file an amended return when they received the missing K-1" (my note: not filing is illegal and has massive penalties, ie 5%/mo)
Regarding the audit Kevin claimed to represent me in, but did not he said " Although I was retained by the taxpayers to be their duly appointed representative, I did NOT actively participate..." "the firm did not respond to any IRS requests for documents...I did not provide any information to the IRS..." "I take full responsibility for the firms failure to to actively participate in the IRS examination, to provide any requested documents, to contact the examiners, or to perform routine services..."
To be clear, Kevin has not accepted responsibility. He has not paid one penny towards the hundreds of thousands of dollars in professional expenses for tax attorneys and accountants required to fix his mess. Our litigation has been met with nothing but delays, lies, and excuses. (edit: please see my above note date 7-12-2024. Kevin and his malpractice carrier have settled for his maximum policy limits, plus he paid six figures out of his own pocket to avoid going to trial. Mr Seabolt and his carrier know his behavior was indefensible).
I am currently litigating with Kevin to recover some of the costs I have incurred, but his tiny malpractice policy doesn't come close to covering my losses.
He was deliberately dishonest with me. He met with an IRS collections agent Named Janet Vega who told him she would seize my assets. He told me that she was looking into fixing the erroneous gift tax, and was very apologetic for the delays. She had no authority to make any adjustment or review. She had one job, collections. He understood my predicament and he misled me to hide his own mistakes. This greatly compounded my harm.
You can't imagine how much a dishonest accountant can complicate your life, or how much it will cost in IRS penalties, legal fees, and accounting fees to a new accountant to attempt to fix.
If you want more information or if you feel you have been harmed by Seabolt or I may be of help to you in your case or you may be of help to me in mine, my name is Douglas Hobbs. I can be reached by email at Darthhobbsmd@gmail.com or if you text me we can arrange a phone call. 480-435-4880. Text first, my phone does not accept calls from numbers that are not in my contact list.
If you believe I may be able to help you avoid serious problems, or if you have a case of your own, please feel free to contact me. I strongly suspect that the information I have gathered will help your case.
Kevin was placed on probation from the Arizona board of accountancy, so this means I am not the only client he has seriously harmed. This is public record. To be clear, this is not related to my complaint. This is a separate complaint already ruled on.https://www.azaccountancy.gov/CPADirectory/Orders.aspx?category=0%2fMktTCYVsxzN1%2fKjFZ7hA%3d%3d&search=ioYBMN37rfD%2fAAbFGNtOvg%3d%3d&RowItem=J0RuBtJtrY5Dk4mgslHUBA%3d%3d&RowType=Jb0Z6w39Vs1X8AaUH6HxNg%3d%3d
II have filed my own complaint. Mr. Seabolt demanded I rescind it. I have not, but the Board of accountancy has not yet acted. It is possible they are awaiting resolution of the litigation and the court documents to move forward. Since I have no influence with them, I am using this website to warn you.
The following is cut and pasted from a letter from a law firm representing Kevin Seabolt:
"Our client vehemently disagrees with the statements on the website, and believes that they are false and defamatory. I understand that your client believes they are true. However, that is for a jury to decide. It is also for the jury to decide the amount of damages to award against your clients for intentionally attempting to harm Mr. Seabolt's business."
If I understand Mr. Seabolt's attorney correctly they are threatening litigation for defamation and tortuous interference. This looks like a threat to use the legal system to intimidate me into taking down this website that describes my personal experience using Kevin Seabolt as my CPA. My website is here because I believe it is an issue of importance to others in my community.
This threat of a lawsuit is intended to silence my criticism of Kevin Seabolt's ethics and professional conduct in his work as my tax expert and accountant.
This brings out a freedom of speech concern, and seems strategically designed to prevent my public criticism about Mr. Seabolt's work and his dishonesty with me. Because Mr. Seabolt is a CPA in my community his professional behavior is a matter of public concern.
Kevin, if you are reading this, I can't wait to see you in court. FYI, the AZ Board of accountancy is not happy with you. The IRS has multiple people that also know of your dishonesty, and you have an official complaint from an IRS officer re. your ethics.
*update. Someone is sending out his resume.
11/7/22
A certain somebody currently has his very own business and is his own boss. No one client controls very much of his work so he has many irons in the fire and that can be lucrative. Why would he suddenly start looking for an employee position in a far away place?
idea one: He has always dreamed of working in a cubicle. He wants to be a cog. Working for the man is where its at.
idea two: He is realizing that in order to have his own shop and collect payments from many clients he needs to have a license to practice and be allowed to practice by the IRS. He needs to be able to represent clients to the IRS. If he has good reason to think this is going to be taken away, a cubicle looks nice.
* update 8/29/23
depositions are in progress and more issues are coming to light. Many of you have reached out to me to discuss your personal experiences with Mr. Seabolt. I'm sorry for the problems you now have, and hope this site gives you hope.
*update: My Deposition: Mr. Seabolt's attorney attempted to argue that this is all my fault because I was under no legal obligation to follow the advice and counsel of my CPA, Mr Seabolt.
* update 5/18/24
this week we had an appointment to depose Mr Seabolt's expert witness (who is oddly not a CPA). He failed to show up as did Mr. Seabolt's attorney. Weak petty games. We are still attempting to re-schedule.
update 9-12-2024
Decisions and Orders (By Consent):Response/Counteroffers to Offered Decisions and Orders (By Consent):File No. 2023.185; Seabolt, Kevin W.Kevin W. Seabolt and Flynn Carey were present to address the Board.
Chris Rasmussen provided a summary to the Board regarding the investigative process, the Consent Order that was offered, and the dissent that was received. Mr. Carey addressed the Board remarking upon the willingness to pay reimbursement for the Board's investigative costs, and their position related to the gift tax issue and the file now/file late issue. Mr. Carey conceded that perhaps better documentation could have been in order, but it did not rise to a level of due care. He further provided that he would like the Board to consider the timing and mitigation steps taken by Mr. Seabolt.
Christina C. Roderick inquired about the affidavits that Mr. Seabolt signed. Mr. Carey mentioned that there was a context surrounding the affidavits. Stephen J. Rodis asked if there was any other evidence that has not been considered yet. Mr. Carey responded that they did have additional information that they could not share at the time due to a civil lawsuit.
Ms. Roderick stated that she believed this was a due care violation and did not see a need to modify the Consent Order. Lisa B. Lumbard noted the potential value of remanding the matter back to the Tax Advisory Committee. Gregory S. Dawson concurred with Ms. Lumbard. Mr. Rodis shared that he agreed with Ms. Roderick's assessment, even considering the comments from the registrant and his legal counsel. Mr. Rodis inquired with Scott Donald about what there is to gain from keeping the matter at the Board level versus remanding it back to the Board, to which Mr. Donald generally responded. Mr. Dawson asked the registrant and his legal counsel whether they had information that the Tax Advisory Committee was previously unaware of. Mr. Carey responded that they have some information that was restricted due to the civil litigation which has since then been settled. Monica L. Petersen informed the Board of the pros and cons of remanding matters back to an advisory committee.
A motion was made by Lisa B. Lumbard, seconded by Christina C. Roderick, to go into executive session at 8:53 a.m. to obtain legal advice and discuss confidential information on agenda item 8.C.1.a pursuant to A.R.S. § 38-431.03(A)(2) and (3). The motion passed unanimously.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
After discussion in executive session, the Board reconvened in open session at 8:59 a.m.
OPEN SESSION
A motion was made by Lisa B. Lumbard, seconded by Christina C. Roderick, to provide the registrant 30 days to provide additional information that was not previously provided to the Board due to the civil lawsuit. Mr. Rodis asked if the timing was sufficient for the registrant and his legal counsel. They responded it was. The motion passed unanimously.
We expect this matter to be reviewed by the Board at its October 21, 2024 meeting
