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New Haven County resident Louis DeMaio, age 70, of Guilford, was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 12, to prison time, followed by one year of supervised release, said John Durham US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, DeMaio was employed as an accountant in East Haven and, from approximately 2010 to 2018, also operated Almatt LLC, a temporary employment agency that provided day laborers to construction companies.
Although DeMaio listed another person as the owner of Almatt, the firm was owned and run by DeMaio.
As part of Almatt’s operating procedures, Almatt invoiced construction companies for the cost of labor provided and, from the payments received from the companies, paid the employees for services rendered. Almatt and DeMaio then provided the employees with W-2 forms reflecting that Almatt had undertaken required federal tax withholdings.
However, Almatt and DeMaio failed to withhold taxes and subsequently failed to pay over those withholdings to the IRS, the US Attorney's Office said.
Almatt also never filed yearly income tax returns or quarterly 941 forms reflecting federal withholding and payroll taxes owed.
In addition, DeMaio issued hundreds of thousands of dollars of checks from Almatt made out to himself and to family members who did not work at the business.
From 2010 through 2018, DeMaio and his family received more than $2.5 million from Almatt. DeMaio failed to report any of these distributions on his federal personal income tax returns.
In 2015, the IRS initiated a civil examination of Almatt, and then expanded the examination to evaluate the completeness of DeMaio’s personal income tax returns.
The investigation revealed that DeMaio underreported his income by more than $2.5 million. The tax loss as a result of DeMaio’s criminal conduct is $1,132,398.
DeMaio was also ordered to pay full restitution, as well as interest and penalties.
In August, DeMaio pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of obstructing and impeding the due administration of Internal Revenue laws.
DeMaio, who is released on a $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on Wednesday, May 12.
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