Fairfield Landscaper Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion: Feds

FAIRFIELD, CT — A Fairfield man was sentenced to 18 months in prison for failing to pay nearly $450,000 in taxes related to his landscaping business over a three-year period, according to authorities.

Donald Biagi Jr., 55, was also sentenced Wednesday to one year of supervised release following the prison term, U.S. States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced in a press release.

Biagi, the sole owner of Don Biagi Landscaping, generated business income by providing landscaping and snowplowing services to commercial and residential customers in Fairfield County. He regularly negotiated client checks at banks for cash rather than depositing the checks into his business bank accounts, according to court documents.

Between 2008 and 2010, Biagi cashed approximately 574 client checks, ranging in amounts from $10.52 to $15,604.50, in the total amount of approximately $848,750, according to the press release.

Biagi, who acted as his own bookkeeper, did not disclose to his tax return preparer the client checks he cashed and some of the client checks he deposited into his business account between 2008 and 2010, authorities said.

“As a result, a total of $1,321,305 in business gross receipts were not reported on Biagi’s federal tax returns for 2008, 2009, and 2010, resulting in his substantially under-reporting his taxable income,” Daly wrote in the press release. “Biagi failed to report approximately 62 percent of his business’s gross receipts in 2008, approximately 47 percent of the gross receipts in 2009, and approximately 60 percent of the gross receipts in 2010.”

Biagi was ordered to pay $445,579 in back taxes, and additional penalties and interest that have accrued on his unpaid taxes, according to Daly. Biagi made a $50,000 payment toward his restitution on Wednesday.

On Sept. 29, 2016, Biagi pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion. He was ordered to report to prison on April 1.

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