Boston Auto Body Shop Owner Charged with Tax Fraud

BOSTON – The owner of a Hyde Park auto body shop was charged today in federal court in Boston in connection with preparing false tax returns for his company, Automotive Specialties Inc. 

Richard Poillucci, 62, of Easton, was charged by Information and has agreed to plead guilty to three counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns. 

According to the charging documents, Poillucci was the owner of Automotive Specialties Inc. (ASI), an auto body shop specializing in repairing high-end vehicles.  Between Sept. 30, 2012 and Sept. 30, 2015, Poillucci cashed millions of dollars of checks from the business at check cashing establishments in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and willfully failed to report that income, or expenses that he paid for in cash with the proceeds from those checks, on ASI’s tax returns. As a result, Poillucci failed to report approximately $569,367 to the IRS, thereby avoiding the payment of approximately $215,552 in federal income taxes. 

Each of the counts of aiding the preparation of false tax returns provides for a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Miron Bloom of Lelling’s Economic Crimes Unit is prosecuting the case.