Rochester Man Pleads Guilty To Failing To Pay Thousands Of Dollars Owed To The IRS

CONTACT: Barbara Burns
PHONE: (716) 843-5817
FAX #: (716) 551-3051

ROCHESTER, N.Y.  U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. announced today that Jonathan Botier, 47, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Frank P. Geraci, Jr. to tax evasion. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that from January 2012 through March 2016, the defendant worked at Unity Health System in Rochester. Botier then worked for other medical facilities in the New York City area.  While working at Unity Health System and the other facilities, the defendant submitted fraudulent W-4 forms to his employers stating that he was exempt from having taxes withheld from his income or that he should have a reduced amount of taxes withheld based on a fraudulent number of allowances reported on the W-4 forms. This resulted in Botier’s employers not withholding or significantly under-withholding federal income taxes from the defendant’s wages and thus not forwarding the appropriate amount of federal income taxes to the Internal Revenue Service on behalf of Botier.

For the years 2012 through 2018, the defendant received total wages of approximately $832,032 and owed the Internal Revenue Service approximately $181,911 in federal income taxes. However, Botier failed to file a federal income tax return for each of those years and failed to pay the vast majority of federal income taxes he owed to the Internal Revenue Service.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Jonathan D. Larsen, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 10, 2021, before Judge Geraci. 

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