Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Joel P. Garland, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, announced that DONALD BIAGI, Jr., 55, of Fairfield waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today in Hartford federal court to one count of tax evasion.
According to court documents and statements made in court, BIAGI is the sole owner of Don Biagi Landscaping. BIAGI, through Don Biagi Landscaping, generated business income by providing landscaping and snowplowing services to commercial and residential customers in Fairfield County. BIAGI regularly negotiated client checks at banks for cash rather than depositing the checks into his business bank accounts. Between 2008 and 2010, BIAGI cashed approximately 574 client checks, ranging in amounts from $10.52 to $15,604.50, in the total amount of approximately $848,750.
BIAGI, who acted as his own bookkeeper, did not disclose to his tax return preparer the client checks he cashed and some of the client checks he deposited into his business account between 2008 and 2010. As a result, a total of $1,321,305 in business gross receipts were not reported on BIAGI’s federal tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010, resulting in his substantially under-reporting his taxable income. BIAGI failed to report approximately 62 percent of his business’s gross receipts in 2008, approximately 47 percent of the gross receipts in 2009, and approximately 60 percent of the gross receipts in 2010.
When he is sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello, BIAGI faces a maximum term of imprisonment of five years and a fine of up to $250,000. BIAGI also has agreed to repay the U.S. Treasury $445,579 in restitution for the taxes he failed to pay, and additional penalties and interest that have accrued on his unpaid taxes.
A sentencing date is not yet scheduled.
This matter has been investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
