Former Wheaton attorney charged with federal tax crime

WHEATON, Ill. - A former attorney from west suburban Wheaton has been accused of withholding his employees’ taxes from their paychecks without actually paying them to tax authorities.

Adam Tracy, 43, is due to be arraigned Monday on one count of willful failure to pay taxes to the IRS, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Illinois.

Tracy, operating Securities Compliance Group Ltd. — which also does business as "Clearing Link LLC," "Wabash Capital Advisors Ltd.," "Guanwei Recycling Corporation" and "The Tracy Firm" — is accused of withholding over $137,000 in payroll taxes from his employees’ paychecks between 2014 and 2018, prosecutors said. Despite withholding the taxes, however, the money was never paid to the IRS.

Tracy’s company also failed to file quarterly employment tax forms with the IRS for much of that time, prosecutor’s said.

If convicted, Tracy could face up to five years in prison for the charge, prosecutors said.