A federal grand jury in Boston delivered a superseding indictment on Saturday, accusing a Massachusetts man with wilfully failing to pay over employment taxes to the IRS, conspiring to defraud the IRS, and helping in the creation of a false tax return.
According to the superseding indictment, Mauricio Baiense, formerly of Quincy, owned and managed Contract Framing Builders, Inc. (CFB), a Medford construction firm.
According to allegations, Baiense was in charge of submitting CFB’s quarterly employment tax filings as well as collecting and turning over payroll taxes deducted from workers’ salaries to the IRS.
Baiense is accused of using a number of actions between about 2013 and 2017 to turn the corporate money of CFB into cash.
According to the indictment, he reportedly made payments drawn on CFB’s bank account to pretend subcontractors who were really his controlled nominee businesses.
During this time, Baiense reportedly deposited or gave orders to cash nearly $11 million in such checks at a check cashing establishment.
The money was reportedly used to run a “off-the-books” cash payroll for CFB’s staff by Baiense and, sometimes, another guy.
He is accused of failing to disclose the cash earnings to the IRS and omitting to pay employment taxes on wages given in cash to workers.
Baiense is also accused of helping to prepare at least one false employment tax return that overstated the real salary given to CFB workers.
When questioned at a hearing held by the US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on a workplace accident, Baiense was charged with providing a false statement.
For each of the seven counts of willful failure to collect or pay over employment taxes, Baiense faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison;
for conspiring to defraud the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of five years;
and for aiding and abetting the preparation of a false tax return, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.
He could spend up to five years in prison if found guilty of making a false statement. After taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other legal considerations, a federal district court judge will decide on any sentence.
The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins for the District of Massachusetts and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
The case was looked into by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration of the Department of Labor, Homeland Security Investigations, and IRS-Criminal Investigation.