Vascular surgeon gets 18 months for cheating on taxes

Dr. Jeffrey S. Stein, a vascular surgeon who practiced in Manhattan and at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, was sentenced on Friday to 18 months in prison for tax cheating.

His wife, personal-injury lawyer Marla Stein, was sentenced to a year-and-a-day in prison.

Together, the duo pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to evading $350,000 in taxes by claiming phony professional expenses and then creating false documentation to thwart an IRS audit.

The Steins, 58 and 52, live in Manhattan. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote agreed to stagger the sentences of the two so that one will be able to care for the couple's teenage children while the other is serving time.