CT Man Sent To Prison For Tax Evasion: Feds

John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Serafino Canino, 53, of Torrington, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 18 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for tax evasion.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Canino was employed by, and had an ownership interest in, Innovative Concepts Corporation (“ICC”), a company that manufactured and distributed small power and hand tools, officials said in a news release.

ICC contracted with factories in Asia through intermediaries located in Taiwan. The intermediaries negotiated with the factories in Asia, ensured the shipment of manufactured products to ICC, and invoiced ICC for the manufacturing of its products, officials said in a news release.

From 2008 through 2011, Canino engaged in fraudulent billing using two of ICC’s intermediaries in Taiwan, officials said. Canino instructed the intermediaries to charge ICC an inflated price and kick back the overage to Canino using overseas bank accounts and an overseas corporate entity, officials said in a news release.

Through this scheme, Canino improperly received more than $633,000 in income, officials said. Canino failed to disclose this illegal income to his accountants who prepared his federal tax returns, and he failed to report the income on his 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 tax returns, officials said. The total tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service was $186,358.

Judge Underhill ordered Canino to cooperate with the IRS to pay more than $430,000 in back taxes, interest and penalties, officials said in a news release. On September 24, 2018, Canino pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion. Canino is required to report to prison on June 5, 2019.