John P. Gizzi Sentenced for Tax Crimes

ROCHESTER, N.Y.-- United States Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr., announced that John P. Gizzi, 65, of Rochester, New York, who previously pled to filing false tax returns for 2008 and 2009, was sentenced today to 1 year of home confinement, 5 years of probation, and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine by United States District Judge Frank P. Geraci.  Previously, a business that Gizzi owned, Rochester Business Machines Supplier, Inc., was sentenced to pay a fine of $500,000.

In imposing this sentence, the Court noted that Gizzi and his business had paid the United States approximately $11.5 million in back taxes, fraud penalties, interest, fines and forfeitures, in this and related tax proceedings.  The Court also expressed concern that, given Gizzi’s serious and complicated health condition, a sentence that included a term of imprisonment and separated Gizzi from his physicians could potentially be fatal.  The Court rejected the defense’s request for probation with no home confinement.

Assistant United States Attorney John J. Field, who handled the case, stated that Gizzi criminally cheated the United States out of $1,901,633 in federal income taxes that he owed over a period of 6 years.

The plea was the culmination of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations division, under the direction of Tony Weirauch .