Glastonbury Business Owner Admits Filing False Income Tax Returns

Leonard C Boyle, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Ramsey E. Covington, Acting Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, announced that GEORGE LEE, 50, of Glastonbury, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today to a federal tax offense.

Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), the court proceeding before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna F. Martinez occurred via videoconference.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Lee own and operates American U.S.A. Paving.  For the 2015 through 2018 tax years, Lee provided his tax return preparer with information that substantially understated the gross receipts for the paving business.  As a result, Lee’s personal income tax returns for the 2015 through 2018 tax years, which Lee authorized his preparer to file with the IRS, underreported his income by a total of more than $588,000, resulting in a tax loss of $154,238.

Lee pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of three years.  He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant on October 13, 2021, in Hartford.

Lee is released pending sentencing.

This investigation is being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher W. Schmeisser.