Former Waltham Accountant Convicted Of Tax Fraud

WALTHAM, MA — A former accountant for a Waltham tax consulting firm was convicted yesterday by a federal jury in Boston of multiple counts of tax fraud and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service after he spent nearly $1 million from the company he worked for on personal expenses for him, his wife and his girlfriend.

Greg Takesian, 53, formerly of Massachusetts but most recently of Miami, Fla., was convicted following a five-day jury trial of four counts of filing false tax returns and one count of attempting to obstruct and impede the IRS.

Takesian was a certified public accountant, which means he was familiar with the tax laws. He worked for Waltham-based Takesian & Company, a tax consulting firm owned by his father. Takesian ran the day-to-day business although he did not have an ownership stake. Between 2008 and 2011, Takesian & Company received more than $2 million for tax and consulting services from At Home VNA, a home health company located in Waltham. That company's Natick owner was convicted in 2015 for fraudulently billing millions of dollars of services to Medicare and then laundering the proceeds.

In accordance with his duties, Takesian had check-writing authority, and took out several Takesian & Company credit cards in his name.

Takesian spent more than $991,000, taken from Takesian & Company’s bank account, on personal expenses, including cash and check payments to his wife and his girlfriend. In total, Takesian gave his wife more than $500,000 from the company bank account and his girlfriend more than $200,000 of company funds. He also spent the money on Caribbean cruises, expensive clothing and nightclubs.

Takesian allowed his wife and others to use Takesian & Company credit cards to make more than $50,000 of purchases for non-business expenses, such as cruises, jewelry, intimate women’s apparel, makeup, iTunes, and Home Shopping Network purchases. He also used company funds to pay the rent on his home, but did not report any of this income on his tax returns according to court documents. In his 2008 tax returns he claimed he made $32,828. In 2009 his tax returns he told the IRS he made $27,239. He didn't file those until 2011, according to court documents.

On top of that, between 2008 and 2011 he failed to file this in the company tax returns. While his father reported some Takesian & Company earnings on his personal tax returns, the figures he reported were based on information provided by Takesian, which represented a fraction of Takesian & Company’s actual income.

After learning of the federal investigation, Takesian filed false corporate and personal amended returns in an effort to cover up the nearly $1 million of unreported income.

He was arrested in 2015 and brought back to Boston to be tried.

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than three years in prison, one year of supervised release, and a fine of $100,000 on each count. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors, according to the office of Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb.

District Court Judge William G. Young scheduled his sentencing for Feb. 3, 2018.

Previously on Patch

More on that Waltham Nursing Agency.

Medicare Fraud in Waltham

CPA Who Worked for Waltham Tax Consulting Firm Charged

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