Guilford Accountant, 70, Gets 2 1/2 Year Prison For Tax Evasion

GUILFORD, CT — Louis DeMaio, 70, of Guilford, pleaded guilty in the summer of 2019 to bilking the IRS for $1,132,398 in taxes. At the time, he waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty to tax evasion and obstruction offenses.

Tuesday he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Artertonin to serve 30 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release, federal prosecutors announced.

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 an "individual"on paper as the owner of Almatt, Almatt was effectively owned and run by DeMaio.

As part of his operating procedures, the business invoiced construction companies for the cost of labor provided and, from the payments received from the companies, paid the employees for services rendered, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut said.

Prosecutors said Almatt and DeMaio gave employees W-2 forms that said the company had withheld federal tax, but they "failed to withhold taxes and subsequently failed to pay over those withholdings to the IRS."

Federal prosecutors said the company also never filed yearly income tax returns or quarterly 941 forms reflecting federal withholding and payroll taxes owed. And they said 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."

The US attorney said that from 2010 through 2018, "DeMaio and his family received more than $2.5 million from Almatt" and that DeMaio failed to report any of these distributions on his federal personal income tax returns."

Read the full statement here.