Tax Preparers' Hall of Shame: Tax Accountant Sentenced to 80 Months of Hard Time

New Inductee of the Tax Preparers' Hall of Shame goes to a Florida tax preparer. Florida STAND UP!!!

 

Preparer Joseph Rizzuti has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the IRS. According to court documents, Rizzuti, an accountant and the owner of Beacon Accounting Services, interfered with the IRS’s ability to collect taxes owed by two clients by stealing payments from those clients intended for the IRS and making misrepresentations to the clients, as well as the IRS, to conceal his scheme. He also admitted to engaging in a criminal conspiracy to commit wire fraud by making material misrepresentations to individuals throughout the country who believed the money they were investing with Rizzuti and his co-conspirators was funding Nigerian-related oil and Bahamian construction projects, when instead Rizzuti and his co-conspirators used the money for their personal expenses. In total, Rizzuti and his co-conspirators stole approximately $3 million. In addition to prison time, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution to victims, including the IRS. Restitution of nearly $300,000 was ordered at the sentencing hearing, and additional restitution will be determined within 90 days.

 

Here is a special quote for the our new inductee:

 

"There is enough in the world for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed."
Frank Buchman 

Welcome to the Tax Preparers' Hall of Shame. May the prison guards treat you fairly.