Massachusetts Contractor Charged with Payroll Tax Crimes

BOSTON – An Ipswich man, who is the owner and operator of numerous Massachusetts businesses, was arrested today on charges that he manipulated his payroll to avoid paying taxes.

George Vasiliades, 54, was charged in an indictment unsealed today with 17 counts of failure to collect, account for and pay over federal employment taxes; 17 counts of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns; one count of making a false statement to the Social Security Administration; and one count of aggravated identity theft. Vasiliades was arrested this morning and will appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler this afternoon.

The indictment alleges that Vasiliades’s operated several businesses: Alpine Property Services, Boston Central Management, Delta Labor Company, Olympic Painting and Roofing, and Turnpike General Contracting. Between 2008 and 2013, Vasiliades allegedly concealed the true size of his companies’ payroll from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to reduce the cost of doing business and to increase profits. Among other things, Vasiliades characterized a portion of an employee’s wages as nontaxable and false expense reimbursements; and directed certain employees to create shell corporations and then paid employees through these corporations as if they were independent contractors.  He also allegedly paid some employees, including those who were not U.S. citizens and not authorized to work in the United States, from bank accounts that were not connected to his corporate payroll reporting software and, as a result, would not be reported as wages to the IRS. 

From April 2013 through September 2013, Vasiliades allegedly paid approximately $23,553 in wages to an employee who was not a citizen and not authorized to work in the United States using the name and Social Security number of a U.S. citizen employee. Each week during that period, Vasiliades allegedly issued two payroll checks in the citizen’s name and Social Security number: one check for the wages of the citizen and one check for the wages of the unauthorized worker. Vasiliades then allegedly reported all of the wages paid in the citizen’s name to the Social Security Administration, as if the citizen had earned them, which was false.  

The charges of failure to collect, account for and pay over federal employment taxes and making a false statement to the Social Security Administration provide for a sentence of no greater than five years in prison and three years of supervised release. The charges of aiding and assisting the filing of false tax returns provide for a sentence of no greater than three years in prison and one year of supervised release. The aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory two-year prison term which must be served consecutively to any sentence imposed on the other counts. Each count also is punishable by a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; Anthony DiPaolo, Chief of Investigations of the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts; and Michael C. Mikulka, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Region of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General, Office of Criminal Investigations – Labor Racketeering and Fraud, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra S. Bower of Lelling’s Criminal Division is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.