55°
Anthony Guzzone of Middletown admitted last summer that he ducked taxes on the dirty money by not reporting it to the IRS.
It was part of more than $6 million that federal authorities said he and other Bloomberg managers collected – in cash – from subcontractors over more than eight years
Guzzone, 52, also got free construction work on his home and tickets to the Super Bowl and other major events, said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the U.S. Justice Department’s Tax Division.
The work -- including luxurious stainless-steel kitchen appliances, security gate ironwork, custom outdoor areas and elephant statues – turned what once was a Monmouth County ranch house into a McMansion, federal authorities said.
Guzzone reportedly also owned a vacation home in Tuckerton Beach across from Long Beach Island.
Guzzone masterminded the scheme, which saw him and 13 others indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, authorities said.
The irony, prosecutors said, was that part of his responsibilities included protecting the the financial services company created by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg against wrongdoing.
Among other moves, they said, Guzzone created and became a silent partner in a company called Litespeed Electric with a New Jersey couple, Robert and Donna Fleming of Passaic County.
According to an indictment on file in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Litespeed got $250 million worth of contracts from Bloomberg.
Several other Bloomberg executives also made out while running up tens of millions of dollars in overcharges for electrical, plumbing, dry wall and carpeting work, among other renovations at the company’s offices at 120 Park Avenue and 919 Third Avenue, the indictment alleges.
One Bloomberg manager involved in the scheme, Michael Campana, had subcontractors pay for the catering hall and the photographer at his wedding, Zuckerman said. Campana was previously sentenced to 24 months in prison based on his failure to report the bribery income.
Everyone convicted in the case will have to serve their entire terms because there’s no parole in the federal prison system.
U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Liman also sentenced Guzzone to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $574,005 in restitution to the IRS.
Zuckerman commended special agents of IRS-CI as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney David Lewis for the Southern District of New York and Senior Litigation Counsel Stanley Okula of the Tax Division, who prosecuted the case.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Middletown and receive free news updates.
