Bribes are taxable income, as a former Bloomberg construction director was reminded when he pleaded guilty to tax fraud yesterday.
Anthony Guzzone, who worked as director of global construction at Bloomberg from 2010 to 2017, took part in a scheme to receive bribes from subcontractors in exchange for promising them construction contracts and subcontracts on Bloomberg projects, Crain’s reported. On Tuesday he admitted to evading taxes on more than $1.45 million in bribes.
Read more
Commercial
New York
Landlords, tenants react to Cuomo’s latest eviction ban
Commercial
New York
“25% is a starting point”: Indoor dining returns to NYC today
Politics
New York
After Industry City, is Ulurp dead?
“Bribery and tax evasion each impose hidden, unfair costs on the law-abiding public,” U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement. “The sort of criminality admitted to by Anthony Guzzone imposes that burden widely, on customers, on employers, and on taxpayers.”
Other employees, including Bloomberg construction manager Michael Campana and former Turner Construction employees Ronald Olson and Vito Nigro, were also involved, authorities said. In total, the four defendants were charged with failing to pay taxes on more than $5.1 million in bribes.
In October 2017, state officials and investigators from the Manhattan district attorney’s office raided the offices of Turner and Bloomberg. After the raids, Guzzone and top executives in Turner’s interior construction division — Ronald Olson and Vito Negro — were fired.
Guzzone could face up to five years in prison for his part in the pay-to-play scheme. Campana was sentenced to 24 months in prison. [Crain’s] — Sasha Jones