Head of Fashion Empire Gets 3 Years in Tax Case

PHILADELPHIA — Albert Nipon, head of a $60-million women’s fashion empire, was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for bribing Internal Revenue Service agents to avoid paying more than $1.5 million in personal and corporate income taxes.

U.S. District Judge Raymond Broderick, in imposing the prison term, said he “feels compassion” for the 57-year-old businessman. “But I must send out a clear signal to other people like you that they should not even attempt to evade their income tax and defraud the government,” Broderick said.