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Josef Neuman, 37, of Lakewood, also must pay $11.2 million, including interest, that he still owes the government.
Neuman was CEO of the Lakewood-based Concord Healthcare Group, which provided services to nursing homes and other healthcare operations -- including 20 or so that he also co-owned, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
Despite being responsible for collecting, accounting for and paying the payroll taxes for the companies, Neuman failed to pony up for tax years 2017 and 2018 and never made good on it to the IRS, the U.S. attorney said.
Instead, he put the money toward salaries and other business expenses, Sellinger said.
Neuman cut a deal with the government rather than risk the potential outcome of a trial, pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Trenton last August to willfully failing to pay over payroll taxes in exchange for leniency.
Neuman must serve a little more than two years because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp also sentenced him to two years of supervised release.
Neuman also must adhere to strict financial disclosure requirements and is limited in any new debt that he's allowed to take on.
Sellinger credited special agents of IRS – Criminal Investigation with the probe leading to the plea and sentence secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Romano of his Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.
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