Federal authorities have indicted five Chicago-area residents along with two others in what they say was a wide-ranging criminal scheme that generated more than $7 billion in fraudulent tax losses.

Four of the five Chicago-area residents are lawyers, including three former shareholders in the now-defunct law firm of Jenkens & Gilchrist.

The indictment filed Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan charges the seven with 27 separate counts that include conspiring to defraud the IRS and tax evasion.

"The allegations contained in the indictment reflect a brazen disregard for the law," said Lev L. Dassin, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Those indicted, according to a press release from Dassin, include:

Paul M. Daugerdas, 58, of Wilmette, Illinois, the former head of Jenkens & Gilchrist's Chicago office and its tax practice.

Erwin Mayer, 45, of Winnetka, Illinois, and Donna M. Guerin, 48, of Elmhurst, Illinois, both of whom were shareholders here in Jenkens & Gilchrist's tax practice.

Robert S. Greisman, 48, of Deerfield, who was a tax partner in the Chicago office of the BDO Seidman accounting firm and a lawyer.

David Parse, 47, of Elmhurst, a certified public accountant.

Raymond Craig Brubaker, 53, of Plano, Texas, an attorney and CPA.

Denis Field, 51, of Naples, Fla., the former chief executive officer and board chairman of BDO Seidman, an international accounting firm that was founded nearly 100 years ago in New York.

Prosecutors said Field, a certified public accountant and lawyer, was also the head of BDO's national tax practice and one of three people running the company's Tax Solutions Group.

The group handled all aspects of BDO's tax shelter practice.

Prosecutors allege that defendants and others designed and marketed fraudulent tax shelters to wealthy clients from 1994 to 2004. The shelters were intended to eliminate or reduce the taxes that these clients would have to pay to the IRS.

Three ex-BDO employees have already pleaded guilty this year in connection with the scheme, including Charles W. Bee Jr., a former vice chairman and board member.

The tax evasion and conspiracy counts each carry potential sentences of five years in prison.

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