A Bedford man, Andrew Park, has been sentenced to 30 months in federal prison for a tax scheme involving more than $14 million in unpaid payroll taxes. U.S. District Court Judge Landya McCafferty also ordered Park to pay restitution of $639,821.78 and a fine of $15,000.
Park, co-founder and CEO of a startup technology company, was responsible for managing the company's financial matters, including filing quarterly payroll tax returns and paying taxes withheld from employees' wages to the IRS. However, from 2014 through the third quarter of 2021, he failed to remit these taxes as required by law.
Despite notifications from a payroll service company and complaints from employees about unpaid withholdings reported by the Social Security Administration, Park did not address these issues. Additionally, he did not file individual tax returns from 2013 through 2020 while drawing an annual salary of approximately $250,000.
Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack commented on the case: "For many years, the defendant took elaborate steps to defraud the IRS by not filing or paying his personal income taxes and by using his employees’ payroll taxes as free capital to grow his business."
Thomas Demeo of the IRS Criminal Investigation Boston Field Office stated: “Yesterday’s sentencing of Andrew Park is a strong reminder that payment of individual and business taxes is an obligation, not a choice.”
The investigation was led by IRS-Criminal Investigation with Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew T. Hunter and Assistant Chief Eric Powers prosecuting.
