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Press Release

Winter Park Man Charged With Failing To Pay Withheld Employee Payroll Taxes To The Internal Revenue Service

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida

Orlando, Florida – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging William Bruce O’Donoghue (61, Winter Park) with failure to pay over federal employee payroll taxes. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in federal prison.           

According to the indictment, O’Donoghue was the President and majority owner of Control Specialists, a traffic engineering company in Central Florida. As president and majority owner, O’Donoghue exercised control over the company’s business affairs, including approving all payments by the company and controlling all of the company’s bank accounts.

Throughout 2009 and 2010, O’Donoghue caused Control Specialists to withhold payroll taxes from its employees, but failed to pay over those withheld payroll taxes to the IRS. During that same time period, O’Donoghue caused Control Specialists to make thousands of dollars in expenditures for his personal benefit, including approximately $125,000 in cash payments to fund his campaign for Congress. The amount of payroll taxes withheld by Control Specialists and not paid over to the Internal Revenue Service during this period is approximately $219,962.95.         

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless,  and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Vincent S. Chiu.

Updated February 8, 2016

Topic
Tax