Leonard C Boyle, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ROBERT PORZIO, 48, of Westport, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill in Bridgeport to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, followed by one year of supervised release, for tax evasion. Judge Underhill also ordered Porzio to pay a $25,000 fine.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Porzio, who operates Bert’s Tree Service, Inc., deposited numerous customers’ checks into personal bank accounts, transferred a significant portion of the funds into a personal investment account, and kept from the corporation’s bookkeeper his receipt of the additional payments. These diverted payments were not reported either on his individual federal tax returns as additional salary or on the corporation’s tax returns as additional receipts.
For the 2012 through 2016 tax years, Porzio failed to report a total of more than $900,000 in additional income. The underreporting of Porzio’s income tax liability and the company’s payroll tax obligations resulted in a loss of $331,388 to the IRS.
Porzio has paid his back taxes, but he still owes interest and penalties.
Porzio pleaded guilty on December 16, 2021.
This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Anastasia King.