‘Deadbeat Dad’ Gets Maximum Sentence

A federal judge severely castigated the nation’s most notorious “deadbeat dad” for “egregious” conduct and gave him the maximum prison term for crossing state lines to avoid child-support payments. U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ordered Jeffrey Nichols, 48, to serve six months in prison and pay $623,955 in restitution. Nichols, once a prominent investment advisor who earned more than $300,000 a year, failed to pay about $600,000 in child support to his family in New York while he lived in Florida, Vermont and Canada. The federal complaint alleged he hid his assets in his second wife’s name and denied paternity of three children from his first marriage.