Brian Mehling

Introduction

Brian Mehling is a 61-year-old orthopedic surgeon from Hackensack, New Jersey, who pleaded guilty to failing to pay over trust fund taxes — payroll taxes withheld from his own employees’ paychecks that he kept instead of remitting to the Internal Revenue Service . According to court documents and statements made in court, Mehling failed to pay over the full amount of withheld taxes across ten quarterly periods between 2014 and 2018, causing a loss of more than $1.5 million to the government . He pleaded guilty to one count of failing to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes — a charge carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison — and agreed to pay restitution of $1,526,281 to the IRS; sentencing is scheduled for 16 March 2027 .

Background Information

Mehling formed Mehling Office Management LLC, the entity through which he paid himself and the other employees of his medical practice, making him the responsible person for accounting for and paying over the company’s payroll taxes . The quarters involved spanned one quarter of 2014, three quarters of 2015, three quarters of 2016, two quarters of 2017 and one quarter of 2018 — a five-year pattern rather than a single missed payment . The announcement of the plea was made by Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and US Attorney Robert Frazer for the District of New Jersey; the case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Trial Attorney Likhitha Butchireddygari of the Fraud Division’s Tax Section and Assistant US Attorney Eli Jacobs .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Pleaded guilty to an employment tax crime; sentencing March 2027.

Mehling withheld taxes from his employees’ paychecks but failed to pay the full amount over to the IRS across ten quarters between 2014 and 2018, causing a loss of more than $1.5 million . When the IRS opened a collections action to recover Mehling Office Management’s payroll taxes, a revenue officer interviewed Mehling in October 2016 — and in that interview Mehling admitted he was the responsible person for the company’s payroll taxes, admitted he had failed to remit taxes for prior quarters, and admitted he had paid other expenses instead, including mortgages on his properties . The admissions he made to the IRS during that 2016 interview — while the conduct was still ongoing — became part of the record underlying his eventual guilty plea, entered nearly a decade after the last unremitted quarter .

Public Reaction and Consequences

The plea was announced by the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division and the District of New Jersey US Attorney’s Office as an employment-tax prosecution, a category of case federal prosecutors treat as a priority because withheld payroll taxes are trust-fund money belonging to the government, collected from workers’ wages . As part of the plea agreement, Mehling agreed to pay restitution of $1,526,281 to the IRS, and he faces up to five years in prison at his sentencing, scheduled for 16 March 2027, where a federal district court judge will determine the sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors .

Current Status

Mehling has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing on 16 March 2027; his restitution obligation of $1,526,281 is set by the plea agreement . The plea and the admissions made to the IRS revenue officer in 2016 are court-record facts; the sentence itself — custody, probation, fine or some combination — remains to be determined .

Impact on Their Career/Life

A medical career that supported a practice large enough to need a dedicated payroll entity now carries a federal felony conviction for keeping over $1.5 million of employees’ withheld taxes, an admitted preference for mortgage payments on his own properties over remitting the government’s money, and a restitution bill of more than $1.5 million . Employment-tax convictions carry professional consequences for licensed practitioners beyond the criminal sentence, and Mehling’s sentencing in March 2027 will determine how much of the five-year statutory maximum he serves .

Sources

• “Bergen County Orthopedic Surgeon Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Crime” — US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, 10 November 2026: source