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Robert Porzio, age 48, of Westport, plead guilty on Thursday, Dec. 16, following an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, said Leonard C Boyle, acting US Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Porzio, who operates Bert’s Tree Service, Inc., deposited numerous customers’ checks into personal bank accounts, transferred a significant portion of the funds into a personal investment account, and kept from the corporation’s bookkeeper his receipt of the additional payments.
The diverted payments were not reported either on his individual federal tax returns as additional salary or on the corporation’s tax returns as additional receipts, court documents show.
For the 2012 through 2016 tax years, Porzio failed to report a total of more than $900,000 in additional income, records show.
The underreporting of Porzio’s income tax liability and the company’s payroll tax obligations resulted in a loss of $331,388 to the IRS, the documents revealed.
Porzio faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years.
He is currently released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing next March.
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