Gloversville Accounting Firm Employees Sentenced for Tax Fraud

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Three people were sentenced last week for conspiring to defraud the United States and filing fraudulent tax returns.

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Richard S. Hartunian and Shantelle P. Kitchen, Special Agent in Charge of IRS-Criminal Investigation’s New York Field Office.

Carmen Gentile, age 54, of Amsterdam, New York, was sentenced on June 13 to a five-year term of probation, fined $10,000, and ordered to pay restitution to the United States.  Angela Witzke, age 40, of Amsterdam, New York, and a certified public accountant, was sentenced on June 13 to a three-year term of probation for her role in the scheme.  Michelle Lennon, age 43, of Gloversville, New York, was sentenced on June 16 to a one-year term of probation.  Senior U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe presided over the case.

All three defendants worked at Complete Financial Accounting Services in Gloversville, which Gentile owned and operated.  As part of their guilty pleas, Gentile, Witzke, and Lennon each admitted that they 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.  They admitted filing these returns despite knowing they contained false statements concerning their clients’ income, expenses and losses.

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