On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals suspended attorney Vi Bui from practicing law on an interim basis following his conviction in a significant tax fraud case. Bui was found guilty of a serious crime in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, prompting the disciplinary action by the D.C. court.

The case is entitled “In the Matter of Vi Bui,” with case no. 25-BD-010.

The suspension stems from Bui’s involvement in a syndicated conservation easement tax scheme, to which he pleaded guilty in October 2024, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

As a partner at Sinnott & Co. in Atlanta, Bui played a key role in a fraudulent operation that spanned from at least 2012 to May 2020. The scheme, orchestrated with collaborators including Jack Fisher and others at Sinnott, involved creating partnerships to buy land, securing inflated appraisals for conservation easements, and claiming excessive charitable tax deductions. These deductions were then passed on to wealthy clients who invested in the partnerships, often after the tax year had ended.

Court records reveal that Bui knowingly participated in efforts to mislead the IRS, including backdating documents like subscription agreements and checks to falsify the timing of investments. In one instance, he personally fabricated paperwork. To further obscure the scheme, Bui and his associates disguised the partnerships as legitimate real estate ventures, producing misleading documents and staging sham votes on land use despite predetermined outcomes. During a 2018 undercover operation, Bui prepared falsified records to deceive investigators auditing a 2014 tax return.

Bui profited significantly from the illegal activities and used the fraudulent shelters to reduce his tax liability, filing inaccurate personal tax returns between 2013 and 2018. He is one of 12 individuals convicted in the scheme, which generated over $1.3 billion in fraudulent deductions. Fisher and Sinnott received 25- and 23-year prison sentences, respectively, while nine others, including appraisers and accountants, also pleaded guilty.

Bui faces up to three years in prison, supervised release, restitution, and fines, to be determined by a federal judge based on sentencing guidelines.

A copy of the original filing can be found here.