Press Release
POMPANO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY OWNERS SENTENCED IN WORKERS’ COMPENSATION, TAX, AND MAIL FRAUD CONSPIRACY
March 25, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Daniel W. Auer, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, and Richard Walker, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, announced that U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz today sentenced defendants Mario Turcotte and Daniel Paul O’Brien to 60 months’ and 33 months’ imprisonment, respectively, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release.
Turcotte and O’Brien are partners in Powertech Interiors, Inc., a drywall installation and cabinetry company located in Pompano Beach, Florida. They pled guilty in December 2008 to a tax and mail fraud conspiracy, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, arising out of a scheme to underpay its federal income tax and workers’ compensation insurance premiums by maintaining numerous employees as “off-the-books” workers (Case No. 08-20911-CR-SEITZ).
From approximately December 2001 to August 2007, Turcotte and O’Brien paid Powertech’s “off-the-books” employees’ wages in cash, thus under-reporting the company’s taxable wages. By under-reporting taxable wages, the defendants avoided paying the actual employment taxes due and owing to the IRS. In addition, the defendants evaded paying workers’ compensation insurance for Powertech’s “off-the-books” employees by mailing the under-reported payroll figures to its insurance carrier, which used these fraudulent payroll figures to assess a lower insurance premium for Powertech.
Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey E. Tsai.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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