Anthony Riccio, owner of the Brooklyn-based construction business AD Custom Interiors Inc., has pleaded guilty to payroll tax fraud.
Riccio was obligated to pay his employees’ payroll taxes to the US government’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS). During 2011-16, Riccio encashed checks worth $3.1 million that AD Custom had received. He utilized a part of this money to pay salaries to his employees and did not inform the company’s return preparer about these cash payments.
As a result, the company’s employment tax returns had underreported the salaries and payroll taxes. During the period of the fraud, Riccio did not pay $255,433 in federal payroll taxes that AD Custom and its employees owed to the IRS. These taxes include income, Medicare and Social Security taxes. For this fraud, Riccio could face a maximum prison sentence of five years in addition to monetary and other penalties.
Source: US Department of Justice