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TWO BROTHERS WHO OPERATED TRUCKING AND

WASHINGTON, D.,C. - Two brothers who operated 11 trucking and construction companies on Long Island, New York were sentenced to jail time and ordered to pay restitution for their involvement in a tax evasion conspiracy set up to avoid paying taxes on more than $15 million in gross corporate receipts, the Justice Department announced today.

Anthony Sainato was sentenced to 6 years in jail and his brother, Vincent Sainato, to a 40-month prison term late on Friday, March 2, 2000. Each also was sentenced to serve three years of supervised release. Following a six-week trial, the Sainatos were convicted in March, 2000. In addition to the conspiracy charge, Anthony Sainato was also convicted of corporate tax evasion, aiding and abetting the filing of a false corporate tax return, and two counts of signing and filing a false corporate tax return. He was acquitted of tampering with a witness.

The prosecution of the Sainato brothers resulted from an investigation into Royce Aerospace, a Department of Defense subcontractor who had been paying kickbacks to customers in the New York area in exchange for business.

The Sainatos operated the trucking, construction and delivery companies under the names Alpha Trucking Corporation, which did business as Suffolk Distributing, Marietta Trucking, Marietta Construction, Marietta Equipment Leasing, New Way Removal, New Way Environmental, New Way Rental, Safe Way Removal, Safe Way Rental, Noell Container Service and Eastern Transportation. The brothers ran these companies from Far Rockaway, Queens, Long Island City and Syossett.

Between 1990 and 1996, the companies earned more than $16 million in gross receipts and were obligated to make and file approximately 34 corporate income tax returns. During this time, however, only 13 income tax returns were in fact filed and, of those, only four reported any income. More than $15 million in gross corporate receipts went unreported.

The conspiracy involved diverting company checks to third parties to be cashed; depositing checks issued to the Sainatos' companies into unrelated bank accounts; transferring funds among different bank accounts to disguise the paper trail; and issuing checks to fictitious individuals. The defendants used much of the unreported corporate income for personal expenses, such as mortgages, club memberships, and credit card bills. The payment of these personal expenses was income to the Sainatos that should have been reported on personal tax returns.

The Sainatos were investigated jointly by the IRS and by the Department of Defense, Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The trial was prosecuted by Department of Justice, Tax Division, trial attorneys Barry Jonas, David Bloch and Deborah Kravitz.

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