Rochester business owner pleads guilty to tax charge

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Anthony Carnevale, 53, of North Chili, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford to filing a false tax return, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Katelyn M. Hartford, who is handling the case, stated that Carnevale, owner of VIP Maintenance Inc. DBA College Bound Sealers, a paving and sealing business, failed to report over $3,000,000 in revenue to the IRS between 2017 and 2021. From the total amount of $3,000,580.33 received from customer checks cashed, Carnevale paid fees to a check cashing business totaling $63,564.19, paid business expenses totaling $62,391.00, and then paid VIP Maintenance Inc.’s employees some of or all their wages in cash totaling $2,143,504.75. The remaining amount of cash received from the checks cashed, $731,120.39, was kept by Carnevale. This resulted in $171,217.00 in unpaid personal income taxes, and $327,956.23 in unpaid payroll taxes.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Division.

Sentencing is set for March 18, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. before Judge Wolford.

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