(WNY News Now) After inflating boat business expenses and causing over $900,000 in delinquent taxes, a Rochester businessman was imprisoned.
New York’s Rochester.The owner of MY PI, LLC, James Leonardo, 56, was sentenced today for filing a fake tax return that led to substantial tax evasion. The punishment, which included time served, a year of supervised release, and a $2,267,315.42 restitution order, was imposed by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford.
The owner of the 110-foot yacht Pure Insanity, Leonardo, was found guilty of underreporting rental income and improperly deducting maintenance expenses for the vessel, which he utilized for both personal and professional reasons. Leonardo made the untrue assertion that the yacht was used for business 100% of the time, although though it was only used for business a third of the time. He was able to wrongfully deduct all operational expenses due to this misstatement, which decreased his tax liability.
Leonardo failed to disclose an additional $872,869 in income taxes for 2015 through 2018 as a result of the false deductions. His activities were part of a plan to inflate business expenses associated with the operation and maintenance of the yacht in order to reduce his tax liability.
The case’s handling attorney, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, attested that Leonardo’s acts compromised the integrity of the tax system by breaking tax laws and deceiving the IRS. The Department of Defense’s Office of Inspector General’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division both looked into the case.