Date: Sept. 27, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Kevin Biebel of Hardeeville, South Carolina, formerly of New Milford, Connecticut, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to 18 months of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, for tax fraud. According to court documents and statements made in court, Biebel operated Art Metal Industries, LLC (“AMI”), a metal fabrication business. In 2017, AMI had total gross receipts of more $1.5 million and a net profit of more than $550,000. That year, Biebel transferred more than $350,000 from AMI to his personal bank account for various personal expenditures. In 2018, the IRS sought to collect delinquent payroll taxes from Biebel for AMI and instructed Biebel to file delinquent Individual Income Tax Returns (Forms 1040) for the 2016 and 2017 tax years. In September 2018, Biebel filed the returns, which fraudulently reported that he had zero total income and zero total tax due for both years. In 2018, AMI received more than $2.7 million in gross receipts and had a profit of more than $1.2 million. That year, Biebel transferred funds from an AMI bank account to his personal bank account and another bank account held in the name of Diego Trust LLC, a limited liability company for which Biebel was the sole listed member. Biebel used more than $750,000 in funds from those accounts to purchase a home in South Carolina and other assets. Biebel also failed to file individual income tax returns for 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax years. Between 2016 and 2020, Biebel failed to report more than $2.8 million in business income from AMI, resulting in a tax loss of approximately $900,000. In addition, he failed to withhold and pay over approximately $300,000 in employment taxes. Judge Dooley ordered Biebel to pay $1,208,801 in restitution. On April 30, 2024, Biebel pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. Biebel, who is released on a $50,000 bond, is required to report to prison on January 7. This investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
