Former Construction Executive Pleads Guilty To Tax Evasion In Connection With Bribery Scheme

 

Other Executives Charged and Sentenced in Same Construction Kickback Scheme

 Audrey Strauss, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ANTHONY GUZZONE, a former Director of Global Construction at Bloomberg, LLC (“Bloomberg”), pled guilty today to charges of evading taxes on more than $1.45 million in bribes he received from building sub-contractors.  In related proceedings, co-conspirator Michael Campana, a subordinate construction manager at Bloomberg, was sentenced on July 24, 2020, by U.S. District Judge Denise L. Cote to 24 months in prison, for evading taxes on more than $420,000 in the same scheme.  In addition, Ronald Olson and Vito Nigro, two managers of a construction contractor that performed projects for Bloomberg, were separately charged in July 2020 for evading taxes on more than $1.4 million and $1.8 million, respectively, in bribes that they received in the same scheme.  Olson pled guilty to those charges on July 29, 2020, before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel.[1]

Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said:  “Bribery and tax evasion each impose hidden, unfair costs on the law-abiding public.  The sort of criminality admitted to by Anthony Guzzone imposes that burden widely, on customers, on employers, and on taxpayers.  Guzzone now awaits sentencing for his crime.”

According to the four criminal Informations filed in these federal cases, as well as other public documents and recent court proceedings:

Between 2010 and 2017, GUZZONE was the Director of Global Construction at Bloomberg, a global financial firm that was engaged in various building projects in New York City and elsewhere, while Olson and Nigro were executives at a construction contractor that performed projects for Bloomberg.  For most of that time, beginning in 2013, Campana was also a construction manager at Bloomberg.  Each of the defendants participated in a scheme to obtain bribes from construction sub-contractors, who paid kickbacks to the defendants in exchange for being awarded various construction contracts and sub-contracts performed for Bloomberg.

In all, the defendants are charged with failing to pay taxes, between 2010 and 2017, on bribes exceeding $5.1 million.  The defendants received such bribes in various forms, including millions of dollars in cash, as well as construction labor and materials for work on their individual homes and properties, and the direct payment of personal expenses.  Such personal expenses included charges related to Campana’s 2017 wedding, such as approximately $40,000 paid by sub-contractors to a catering hall in New Jersey, over $13,000 to a photography studio, and over $23,000 to a travel agent for airline tickets purchased in connection with Campana’s honeymoon.  Each of the defendants evaded federal income tax on this bribery income, by failing to declare it on income tax returns for various years between 2010 and 2017.

GUZZONE, 51, of Middletown, New Jersey, pled guilty today to a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2010 through 2017.  GUZZONE is scheduled to be sentenced on January 7, 2021, at 2:00 p.m., before United States District Judge Lewis J. Liman. 

Olson, 53, of Massapequa, New York, pled guilty on July 29, 2020, to a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2011 through 2017.

Nigro, 59, of Middletown, New Jersey, was charged on July 16, 2020, with a single count of tax evasion for the tax years 2011 through 2017.

The charges against GUZZONE, Olson, and Nigro each carry a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense, and an order of restitution.  The maximum potential sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judges.

Campana, 34, of Tuckahoe, New York, pled guilty to a tax evasion charge on November 26, 2019, for the tax years 2014 thought 2017, and was sentenced on July 24, 2020, to 24 months in prison, three years of supervised release, restitution of $155,000 in unpaid taxes (which he has repaid), and a fine of $10,000. 

Ms. Strauss praised the excellent work of the Internal Revenue Service.

[1]  In addition, all four defendants have been charged in New York State Supreme Court for participating in the underlying bribery scheme. Nigro and Campana have pled guilty in that case and are awaiting sentencing.