Defendant avoided paying more than 1.7 million dollars in taxes to IRS Date: September 14, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov The owner of a construction company doing business on the South Shore, Cape Cod, and in Rhode Island has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to a multiyear tax evasion and cash payroll scheme. Christopher Pomavilla Minchala, of New Bedford, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of failure to pay over taxes. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court. According to the charging document, from 2017 to 2021, Pomavilla, the owner of Rossy Construction Corporation based in New Bedford, cashed customer checks and did not deposit the receipts in his business bank accounts. Pomavilla allegedly hid from his tax preparer that he was cashing large numbers of checks from customers. By hiding his income in this manner, Pomavilla underreported income from the business on his tax returns, resulting in his failure to pay more than $1.1 million in federal income taxes he owed for the tax years 2017 to 2021. Pomavilla also allegedly ran an unlawful cash payroll, paying Rossy employees in cash while failing to pay over to the IRS more than $670,000 in payroll taxes. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement today. The Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts and the United States Department of Labor, Criminal Investigations Team provided valuable assistance in this matter. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian J. Stearns of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case. The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
