Federal Court Upholds Conviction of Former Ocean County GOP Chair

Ocean County GOP Chairman George R. Gilmore walks with Gov. Chris Christie on the Seaside Heights boardwalk. (Photo: Daniel Nee/Shorebeat)

A federal appeals court on Dec. 4 upheld the conviction of George Gilmore, the powerful former Ocean County Republican party chairman and partner in the law firm which bore his name, on charges of failing to pay over payroll taxes to the IRS and making false statements in a loan application, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Gilmore, 71, of Toms River, a former equity partner and shareholder at Gilmore & Monahan, which represented a slew of Ocean County municipalities, school boards and even state agencies, was convicted in April 2019 on two counts of failing to turn over payroll taxes withheld from employees to the IRS and one count of making false statements on a bank loan application submitted to OceanFirst Bank. He was sentenced Jan. 22, 2020, to one year and one day in prison.

In the non-precedential ruling written by Judge Thomas Hardiman for a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the court rejected four separate claims raised by Gilmore. It agreed with the government that the trial judge properly excluded expert psychiatric testimony supporting Gilmore’s claim that a “hoarding” disorder made him spend lavishly on personal expenses rather than make timely payments to the IRS.

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Gilmore contended that testimony would have negated his intent to commit the charged tax crimes. The court also rejected Gilmore’s challenges to the jury instructions and sufficiency of evidence.

It was unclear whether Gilmore would petition his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. He was not listed as an inmate in federal custody Sunday night, however his name did appear in a records search as an offender with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.