Skip to main content
Press Release

Ohio Glass Company Owner Sentenced to Prison For Not Paying Employment Taxes

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
Also Filed False Tax Returns and Failed to File Returns

The owner of a Greenville, Ohio, glass company was sentenced to 14 months in prison today for failing to truthfully account for and pay over employment taxes, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to information and documents provided to the court, Gail Cooper, 64, of Greenville, was the owner of Greenville Architectural Glass (GAG), which primarily installed glass in commercial and residential buildings for clients in Ohio. GAG paid wages to its employees during the years 2013 through 2015, and as the person responsible for GAG’s finances, Cooper was required to withhold federal income taxes and Social Security and Medicare taxes from the employees’ wages and pay those amounts over to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Cooper was also required to file quarterly employment tax returns with the IRS. Although Cooper caused GAG to withhold taxes from employees’ wages, she neither filed the required quarterly returns for the first quarter of 2013 through the second quarter of 2015, nor paid the withheld amounts over to the IRS. Cooper also failed to pay over to the IRS unemployment taxes. In all, Cooper caused more than $280,000 in payroll taxes not to be paid.

Cooper also filed false individual income tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010, on which she understated GAG’s gross receipts and overstated its expenses. Cooper caused GAG’s bookkeeper to manipulate and delete entries in the company’s accounting records. Specifically, she directed the bookkeeper to delete invoices from the software after GAG received payment from a client to make it appear as if GAG had not received the payment. Cooper also paid personal expenses with business funds, including utility bills for her residence and rental properties, and caused these to be classified as business expenses. After filing fraudulent returns for 2008-2010, Cooper did not file any individual income tax returns for the next several years. In total, Cooper’s conduct caused a tax loss of $587,516 to the United States.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Rose ordered Cooper to serve two years of supervised release and pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $659,262.39.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman thanked special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Trial Attorneys Melissa S. Siskind and Thomas F. Koelbl of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case. Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman also thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio for their assistance in this matter.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.

 

Updated October 29, 2019

Topics
Financial Fraud
Tax
Component
Press Release Number: 19-1165