Ziff operated his tax and accounting firm, Tom Ziff CPA, from January 2006 through December 2010. As trustee of the client's account, Ziff, who had sole signatory authority, opened a bank account in the name of the trust at Wachovia Bank.

He then transferred the $300,000 to bank accounts that he controlled and spent the money for personal uses. Ziff drew the tax fraud charge because he failed to report the embezzled funds on his federal income tax returns for tax years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Besides receiving the prison sentence, Ziff must serve one year of supervised release and pay $47,539 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.