NEW YORKER SENTENCED TO PRISON AND ORDERED TO PAY
$1.3 MILLION IN RESTITUTION FOR MOTOR FUEL EXCISE TAX FRAUD

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A New York businessman was sentenced in Islip, New York today for conspiring to defraud the United States of more than $1.3 million in motor fuel excise taxes on diesel fuel, the Department of Justice's Tax Division announced today.

William S. Nappo, owner of Eagle Oil was sentenced by a United States District Judge to serve a 21 month prison sentence followed by three years of supervised release. Nappo is also required to pay the government back the $1.3 million his fraud scheme cost the government in lost tax revenue.

"People who evade business taxes not only defraud American taxpayers, they also gain an unfair advantage over their honest competitors who comply with the law," said Eileen J. O'Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division.

Nappo pled guilty on June 5, 2001, for conspiring to defraud the United States in 1994 and 1995 by selling 5.7 million gallons of diesel excise tax fuel for on–road vehicles without paying the federal excise tax, which at the time was 24.4 cents per gallon. Nappo was able to carry out his scheme by falsifying documents claiming he was selling heating oil instead of diesel fuel.

The prosecution of Nappo is one of a string of cases prosecuted by the Tax Division against fuel dealers in New York and New Jersey. The investigations have resulted in more than two dozen convictions.

Special agents with the New York Field Office, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Tax Division Trial Attorney Corey J. Smith handled the prosecution.

Anyone who has information about suspected tax fraud should report it to the Internal Revenue Service tip line at 1-800-829-0433.

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