LAWFUEL.COM – US Legal Newswire –
LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for
the Southern District of New York, and PATRICIA J. HAYNES, the
Special Agent-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the
Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), announced that GERARD CRILLY, a
construction company owner, pleaded guilty today in Manhattan
federal court to conspiracy to evade payroll taxes by paying
employees “off-the-books” in cash, and to file false currency
transaction reports (“CTRs”)at the time the cash was obtained to
pay his employees.
According to the Information to which he pleaded
guilty, CRILLY owned two construction companies, Omni
Construction Corporation and Crilly Contracting, Inc., that
operated in the New York City area, specializing in restoration,
waterproofing and scaffolding. From 1999 through 2005, CRILLY
paid his construction employees in cash so he could avoid
withholding required taxes, including the employer and employee
components of Social Security and Medicare taxes, and so that his
employees could themselves evade these and other taxes. CRILLY
paid his employees over $4 million in cash from 1999 through
2005, and failed to remit over $600,000 in federal payroll taxes
due on those wages.
To obtain the necessary cash, CRILLY used a Manhattan
check-cashing company to cash a large number of checks, usually
in amounts of many tens of thousands of dollars, purportedly
payable from his construction companies to various
subcontractors. Financial institutions, including check-cashing
companies, are required to file CTRs with the IRS to identify the
parties to any cash transaction of $10,000 or more. However, to
disguise CRILLY’s role in the transactions, CRILLY and an officer
of the check-cashing company agreed to file CTRs that falsely
reported that the checks in question had been cashed by an
individual who in fact had no involvement in the transactions.
False CTRs covering more than $7 million in cash were filed with
the IRS in connection with CRILLY’s cash transactions.
CRILLY, 39, of Bayton Beach, Florida, pleaded guilty
before United States District Judge HAROLD BAER, JR., to a onecount
Information charging CRILLY with conspiracy to defraud the
IRS, to commit tax fraud, and to evade currency reporting
requirements. He faces a maximum term of 5 years in prison. In
addition, the Information contains a forfeiture allegation of at
least $747,925, representing a portion of the funds CRILLY
obtained in connection with the filing of false CTRs. CRILLY has
also agreed to pay at least $636,846 to the IRS in restitution
for the lost tax revenue. CRILLY is scheduled to be sentenced on
July 16, 2009.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the IRS in
this case.
This investigation is being handled by the Major Crimes
Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United
States Attorney HARRY A. CHERNOFF is in charge of the
prosecution.
09-087 ###
