Summary

On May 14, Pamela Ciampi, president of PT Corporation (PT), a demolition contractor who was also certified as a disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to two counts of tax evasion before a U.S. District Court judge in Boston, Massachusetts. PT worked as a DBE subcontractor on five Federally-funded Central Artery/Tunnel Project contracts valued at approximately $42 million. Ciampi failed to report $727,000 in income in 2002 and 2003 which would have resulted in an additional tax owed of approximately $250,000. Ciampi also pleaded guilty to falsifying PT's 2003 corporate tax return submitted to the Commonwealth in order to maintain its eligibility for the DBE program. Under the Federal DBE program, the individual net worth of DBE-certified business owners is capped at $750,000. The company's tax return did not disclose the $674,500 paid in salary to Ciampi. As part of her plea, Ciampi agreed to a three-year debarment from Federal contracts. Sentencing is scheduled for September 12. Ciampi was charged in an information on April 12 and, pursuant to terms established with the Government, signed an agreement to plead guilty upon the filing of the information. OIG investigated this case with the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations Division and the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General.