White Plains Accountant Pleads Guilty To $23 Million Tax Fraud Scheme

Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that JOSEPH CERVONE, a certified public accountant, pled guilty to tax fraud charges before the U.S. District Judge Nelson S. Román this morning. CERVONE pled guilty to one count of endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws and one count of subscribing to false tax returns. 

According to the Information previously filed in White Plains federal court and court proceedings:

From 2009 through 2012, CERVONE, a certified public accountant with an office in White Plains, obstructed and impeded the IRS by filing false tax returns claiming more than $23 million of energy and coal credits on behalf of his clients in order to obtain tax refunds.  In addition, CERVONE also filed false tax returns for the tax years 2010 and 2011 that failed to report more than $500,000 in income.

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CERVONE, 63, of White Plains, New York, is charged with one count of endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws, and one count of subscribing to false tax returns, each of which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison.  The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

CERVONE’s sentencing is scheduled for June 29, 2017.

Mr. Kim praised the outstanding efforts of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division.  He also thanked the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division for its significant assistance in the investigation

This case is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division.  Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. Collins Jr. is in charge of the prosecution.