MA Company Owner That Worked On Cape Cod Guilty In Tax Evasion, Cash Payroll Scheme

BOSTON, MA — The owner of a construction company doing business on the South Shore, Cape Cod and in Rhode Island has been charged and has agreed to plead guilty to a multi-year tax evasion and cash payroll scheme, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts announced.

Christopher Pomavilla Minchala, 31, of New Bedford, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax evasion and one count of failure to pay over taxes. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court.

According to the charging document, from 2017 to 2021, Pomavilla, the owner of Rossy Construction Corporation based in New Bedford, cashed customer checks and did not deposit the receipts in his business bank accounts.

Pomavilla allegedly hid from his tax preparer that he was cashing large numbers of checks from customers. By hiding his income in this manner, Pomavilla underreported income from the business on his tax returns, resulting in his failure to pay more than $1.1 million in federal income taxes he owed for the tax years 2017 to 2021, officials said.

Pomavilla also allegedly ran an unlawful cash payroll, paying Rossy employees in cash while failing to pay the IRS more than $670,000 in payroll taxes.