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DOJ Announces Sentencing of New York Man for Not Paying Taxes

DEC. 19, 2014

14-385

DATED DEC. 19, 2014
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Citations: 14-385
OWNER OF NYC MAINTENANCE AND CONSTRUCTION COMPANY SENTENCED IN MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT FOR FAILING TO PAY PAYROLL TAXES
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Larry Wszalek, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, announced today that THOMAS NASTASI III, was sentenced to 12 months in prison for failing to pay to the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") more than $1.7 million in payroll taxes of his companies, Nastasi Maintenance LLC and Nastasi Maintenance & Construction, LLC. NASTASI pled guilty in August 2013 before U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe, who also imposed today's sentence.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: "The crime for which Thomas Nastasi has been sentenced was not a complex scheme. His companies worked on luxury buildings in New York. Rather than remit payroll taxes he owed, Nastasi spent the money buying luxury items for himself. Now, he not only has to pay the taxes he owed, he has to pay for his crime with a prison term as well."

According to the Indictment and other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, as well as statements made during court proceedings:

From 2001 through 2011, NASTASI owned and operated several Manhattan construction and maintenance companies, including Nastasi Maintenance & Construction, which performs contracting work on such buildings as Rockefeller Center and the Chrysler Building. As the President of the companies, NASTASI was responsible for withholding payroll taxes from his employees and paying those taxes over to the IRS. Those taxes included the employees' income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare taxes. NASTASI accumulated over $1.7 million in payroll taxes that were owed but never paid to the IRS. Those taxes also included the employer's portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes for his employees.

Instead of paying the companies' payroll taxes to the IRS, NASTASI used company funds to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal expenses, including $67,000 in cigar purchases, a house in Mt. Kisco, and expenses related to his boat. NASTASI also made false statements to the IRS in the course of its attempts to obtain delinquent tax returns and collect the corporate and personal taxes owed by NASTASI and his companies.

In addition to his prison sentence, NASTASI, 48, of Mt. Kisco, New York, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, ordered to pay a fine of $60,000, and was also ordered to pay restitution to the IRS of $1,593,414 to be paid within 90 days.

Mr. Bharara thanked the IRS Criminal Investigation Division for its outstanding investigative work in this case.

Department of Justice Tax Division Senior Litigation Counsel Nanette L. Davis is in charge of the prosecution.

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