Meriden Business Owner Pleads Guilty To Tax Charges: Feds

MERIDEN, CT — A Meriden business owner has pleaded guilty to charges that he bilked the IRS out of between $550,000 and $1.5 million, according to a statement from federal prosecutors. Donald Cariati, Jr., 44, pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing or impeding the due administration of the Internal Revenue laws, an offense that carries a maximum term of imprisonment of three years.

According to the statement, Cariati is the owner and operator of Cariati Developers Inc., a snowplow and hauling business based in Wallingford.

Between 2013 and 2017, Cariati paid several workers with company checks asserting that they were independent contractors or subcontractors in order to evade the responsibility to withhold and pay over taxes to the IRS, according to the statement.

However, Cariati failed to issue Forms 1099 to these “subcontractors” for particular years. He also told some workers that they were being paid off the books, meaning that their pay was not reported to the IRS.

In late 2015, the IRS began an audit of the company. Cariati created false invoices in an attempt to demonstrate business expenses and show the workers' pay was being reported.