United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

NORTH HAVEN RESTAURANT OWNER ADMITS FILING FALSE TAX RETURNS

David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that VIRGINIA MAZZARO, 62, of North Haven, waived her right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before Senior United States District Judge Alfred V. Covello in Hartford to one count of filing a false federal tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2004 to 2008, while the owner of a restaurant and sports bar located in North Haven, MAZZARO failed to deposit all of the cash receipts generated by the restaurant into the bank account of the business.  Instead, she deposited the restaurant’s cash receipts into her personal bank account and then invested most of those funds in certificate of deposit (CD) accounts at various financial institutions.  During this time, MAZZARO also structured cash deposits into her personal and business bank accounts in an attempt to evade financial institution reporting requirements for cash transactions of more than $10,000.

In pleading guilty, MAZZARO admitted that she knowingly filed materially false federal individual income tax returns for the 2004 through 2008 tax years.  For the five-year period, MAZZARO claimed total income of $904,970.  However, during that same time, she failed to report $1,807,221 in gross receipts generated by the operation of the restaurant.

Judge Covello has scheduled sentencing for December 14, 2010, at which time MAZZARO faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years and a fine of up to $100,000.

As a condition of her plea agreement, MAZZARO has paid the IRS $1,412,102.37 in back taxes, penalties and interest.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov