An IRS criminal investigation in New York uncovered a bribery scheme involving more than five million dollars paid to four construction executives between 2011 and 2017 – and not a one legitimate tax return among them.
Two of the defendants worked for Bloomberg, a global financial firm involved in construction projects, while the other two were executives for a contractor that did work for Bloomberg. The four received kickbacks in exchange for lucrative contracts and failed to report any of the income on their tax returns.
One defendant, Michael Campana, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for evading taxes on more than $420,000 he received in bribes in the form of cash and direct payments for personal items, including charges incurred for his wedding – $40,000 paid to a catering hall, $13,000 to a photographer and $23,000 to a travel agent for his honeymoon. He has been ordered to pay $155,000 in restitution.
Anthony Guzzone took more than 1.4 million dollars in bribes. He received cash, construction labor and materials for work on his personal home, and Super Bowl tickets worth almost $8000. Vito Nigro and Ronald Olson have been charged with taking bribes and evading taxes on more than 1.8 and 1.5 million dollars, respectively. Sentencing for the three men is scheduled for later this year.
