August 1, 2005

PRESS RELEASE

NEW BEDFORD FISH BUSINESS OWNER SENTENCED ON
TAX AND STRUCTURING CHARGES

Boston, MA... A New Bedford man was sentenced Thursday, July 28, 2005 on federal charges of tax evasion and structuring cash transactions.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan and Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, announced that JOSE J. GALINHA, age 52, of Faith Avenue, Fairhaven, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to 1 year and 3 months' imprisonment. GALINHA was also ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to the IRS. GALINHA previously pleaded guilty on April 15, 2005 to a twenty-one count Indictment charging him with willfully attempting to evade federal employment taxes and structuring cash transactions.

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that GALINHA, the owner of J.G. Seafood Co., Inc., a fish cutting business located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, failed to report cash wages paid to his employees on quarterly federal employment tax returns beginning with the 1st Quarter of 1998 and ending with the last Quarter of 2002. GALINHA cashed company checks on a weekly basis, often in amounts just below the $10,000 federal reporting requirements and used the cash to pay his employees' wages "under the table". When weekly cash wages exceeded $10,000, GALINHA cashed company checks made payable to fictitious names at a local sports club, of which GALINHA was the vice-president, and used that cash to pay employees the additional wages. The amount of cash wages that GALINHA failed to report from 1998 through 2002 resulted in a tax loss of approximately $100,000.

GALINHA was arrested on April 8, 2004 by complaint in connection with these charges and was later released on a $50,000 unsecured bond.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brian Kelly, Chief of Sullivan's Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit along with John McAdams, Trial Attorney in the DOJ's Tax Division.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139