Gloversville Accountant Admits To Preparing False Tax Returns

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Carmen Gentile, Jr., age 53, of Amsterdam, New York, pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiracy to defraud the United States and file fraudulent tax returns, announced United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Shantelle P. Kitchen, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s New York Field Office.

Gentile faces a maximum penalty of five years of imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and a maximum term of supervised release of three years when he is sentenced on February 17, 2016 by United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe. Gentile may also be ordered to reimburse the government for any tax loss resulting from his conduct.

As part of his guilty plea, Gentile, the owner and operator of Complete Financial Accounting Services in Gloversville, New York, admitted that from March 2006 through April 2008, he and co-conspirators Angela Witzke and Michele Lennon worked together to prepare, and submit to the IRS, dozens of tax returns for clients that omitted income and claimed inflated charitable contributions, expenses, and losses. Gentile and his co-conspirators filed these returns despite knowing they contained false statements concerning their clients’ income, expenses, and losses.

Both Witzke and Lennon have also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States and file fraudulent tax returns; both are scheduled to be sentenced on January 14 by Judge Sharpe.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation’s New York Field Office and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Wayne A. Myers.