Former CFO of Manufacturing Company Pleads Guilty to Mail Fraud and Tax Charges

BOSTON – A Hull man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston in connection with a long-running scheme to defraud the company for which he served as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Robert A. Saltzberg, 68, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and five counts of filing false tax returns. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for June 5, 2019.

From 1998 through 2014, Saltzberg was the CFO of a precision metal fabrication company in Franklin, of which he was a 50% co-owner. As CFO, Saltzberg was responsible for day-to-day accounting and finance operations. He also maintained complete control over the company’s financial activities, including preparing and maintaining the company books, records, and financial statements. 

During this period, Saltzberg used his position as CFO to embezzle more than $1 million from the company by writing checks paying company funds to himself or to pay personal expenses, and then fraudulently recording the expenditures as business expenses on the company’s books.

In addition, the company’s tax preparer unknowingly relied upon false information from Saltzberg to prepare the corporate tax returns. From 2005 through 2014, Saltzberg caused false expenses to be reported on the corporate returns, resulting in a lower reported company net income. Furthermore, because the company is an S-Corporation, and its net income passes through to its shareholders, the understated net income subsequently understated Saltzberg’s personal income as reported on his tax returns in those years. Saltzberg also failed to report the embezzled income on his personal income tax returns. As a result, Saltzberg evaded paying more than $300,000 in federal taxes.

The charge of mail fraud provides for a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. The charge of filing false tax returns provides for a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. 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; Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston; and Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of Lelling’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.