|
 Albany, NY - New York State Department of Taxation and Finance Commissioner Robert L. Megna and Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe announced that a White Plains certified public accountant has been charged with conspiring with the owner of a New City restaurant to steal more than $170,000 in state and county sales taxes that had been collected from the restaurant's customers.
Facing charges of grand larceny, conspiracy, perjury and filing false tax returns is Steven M. Pordy, 46, of 14 Old Orchard Road in Rye Brook. A New York State licensed CPA, Pordy has an office at 235 Mamaroneck Avenue in White Plains.
The criminal complaint charges that Pordy conspired with Varaporn Shoberg, 54, of 94 Branchwood Lane, Nanuet, to steal $170,742 in New York State and county sales taxes by preparing false sales tax returns for a restaurant owned and operated by Shoberg's company, NVR Food Inc.
NVR Food Inc. operates a Thai restaurant known as Lemongrass, located at 191-195 South Main Street, New City. It is alleged that Pordy prepared sales tax returns for the restaurant during 2002 to March 2008, in which he knowingly failed to report $2,108,655 in taxable sales. It is also alleged that Pordy knowingly prepared and filed false personal income tax returns for Shoberg.
Pordy also faces a felony perjury charge for lying under oath in an effort to cover-up the larceny.
The alleged tax fraud was discovered during a Tax Department sales tax audit of the restaurant. That audit revealed that the restaurant's bank deposits were substantially greater than its reported sales and the case was referred to the Department's newly created fraud unit - the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) - for investigation. During the SIU investigation, the Department called Pordy, who was the restaurant's accountant, to testify. It is alleged that in that testimony, Pordy claimed that he only prepared the corporate income tax returns for the restaurant and he repeatedly claimed under oath that he did not know anything about the restaurant's sales tax returns and that he had not had anything to do with them.
According to the complaint, following this testimony, Shoberg entered into a cooperation agreement with authorities and agreed to help the investigation. As part of her cooperation, she and her husband permitted investigators to record their conversations with Pordy. In those recorded conversations, which occurred both in person and over the telephone, Pordy admitted to the Shobergs that he had prepared the sales tax returns and that he knew that the returns he prepared did not report all of the restaurant's sales. He told the Shobergs that he engaged in this conduct because Varaporn Shoberg had told him that she could not pay all of the tax that was due.
The top charge against Pordy is second degree grand larceny which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. He was arraigned today in the Town of Clarkstown Justice Court. Varaporn Shoberg was also charged today with grand larceny in the second degree and was arraigned in the Town of Clarkstown Justice Court.
Commissioner Megna said, "This case is part of the Tax Department's year-long, statewide investigation of corrupt tax preparers who use their specialized training and knowledge to become ‘fraud coaches,' helping clients criminally evade their tax obligations. This defendant betrayed his license and his profession when he helped this restaurant cheat its customers and steal the sales tax dollars they had paid. Like all accomplices, he will be held accountable for the crimes he helped his partners-in-crime commit.
"The case also demonstrates how the Tax Department's enforcement personnel are working closely with prosecutors and aggressively using investigative techniques not previously common in tax enforcement to penetrate the criminal conspiracies that exist between corrupt tax professionals and their fraudulent clients. We are ‘turning' clients who have engaged in tax fraud and those clients are cooperating - often by wearing a ‘wire' - against the professionals who helped them commit the fraud. Together with dedicated and concerned prosecutors like Rockland District Attorney Zugibe, we are using these types of techniques to investigate dozens of fraudulent preparers across the state and I anticipate that more criminal cases will be announced as our investigations conclude. I thank District Attorney Zugibe for his willingness to become part of this project, for his support in this investigation and for his aggressive prosecution of this case."
District Attorney Zugibe said, "I applaud the efforts of the Department of Taxation and Finance, under the guidance of Commissioner Robert L. Megna, to expose this greed and bring these offenders to justice. This office will commit all necessary resources to assist the Department of Taxation and Finance in its continuing efforts to identify the offenders and assure that they are aggressively prosecuted. This type of fraud is not victimless. Instead it deprives the State of New York and all its hard-working taxpayers of essential revenues. This arrest should send a clear message that this conduct will not be tolerated."
Commissioner Megna noted that the Department's investigation of Pordy's practice is continuing. Anyone who has filed an inaccurate or false return should consider participating in the Department's Voluntary Disclosure Program which provides eligible taxpayers who voluntarily disclose and pay past tax liabilities with protection from criminal and civil penalties. Information about the program is available at the Department's website, www.nystax.gov.
Commissioner Megna also thanked the Rockland County Sheriff's Department for its assistance.
All of the defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
 |
