Caused $2.8 million tax loss to the IRS Date: April 26, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A New York man was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for tax evasion and employment tax crimes. According to court documents and statements made in court, Rocco Manzione, of Queens, owned and operated several Brooklyn-based concrete companies. From 2011 to 2017, Manzione withheld more than $1 million in federal employment taxes from his employees' wages, but he did not timely file employment tax returns for his companies, nor did he pay the required taxes to the IRS. Instead, Manzione spent these funds on family vacations, multiple mortgages, private school tuition and luxury vehicles. For the third quarter of 2016 alone, Manzione did not pay over to the IRS $85,000 in employment taxes for Advanced Transit Mix Corp., one of the companies he owned. In addition to the payroll tax scheme, Manzione also filed false tax returns and evaded his individual income taxes. From 2012 through 2017, Manzione initially did not file federal income tax returns, even though he earned more than $3.9 million in taxable income during that period. He concealed some of his income from the IRS by transferring funds from one of the concrete companies he owned to a bank account in the name of a nominee corporation. In December 2015, Manzione wanted to purchase a condominium in Miami for more than $1 million. The lending banks, however, required him to provide federal income tax returns for the previous three years. To qualify for a mortgage, Manzione conspired with his accountant, John Savignano, to file false 2012 through 2014 tax returns that underreported his income for each of those years. In total, Manzione caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $2.8 million. Savignano is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27. In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Rachel P. Kovner ordered Manzione to serve two years of supervised release and to pay approximately $2.8 million in restitution. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division made the announcement. IRS-Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Trial Attorneys Brittney Campbell and Kathryn Carpenter of the Justice Department's Tax Division prosecuted the case.
