Orlando, Florida - United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that William Bruce O’Donoghue (61, Winter Park) today pleaded guilty to failure to pay over federal employee payroll taxes. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. O’Donoghue was indicted on Feb. 3, 2016.
According to court documents, O’Donoghue was the president and majority owner of Control Specialists, a traffic engineering company in Central Florida. As president and majority owner, O’Donoghue exercised control over the company’s business affairs, including approving all payments by the company and controlling all of the company’s bank accounts.
Throughout 2009 and 2010, O’Donoghue caused Control Specialists to withhold payroll taxes from its employees, but failed to pay over those withheld payroll taxes to the IRS. During that same time period, O’Donoghue caused Control Specialists to make thousands of dollars in expenditures for his personal benefit, including approximately $125,000 in cash payments to fund his campaign for Congress. The amount of payroll taxes withheld by Control Specialists and not paid over to the IRS during this period was $219,962.95.
This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vincent S. Chiu.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
