Former Hempstead Councilman Ed Ambrosino Gets 6 Months In Prison

Former Town of Hempstead Councilman Edward Ambrosino was sentenced to six months in prison today after he pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges.

Ambrosino, 55, of North Valley Stream, pleaded guilty on April 3 to tax evasion. In addition to his prison time, Ambrosino will have to pay $700,000 in restitution to his former employer and $254,628 in restitution to the IRS.

“Ambrosino, a licensed attorney and elected official charged with levying taxes, abused his positions of trust and was himself a tax cheat,” said United States Attorney Richard Donoghue. “This is yet another example of a public official on Long Island breaking the law, this time by failing to pay his fair share of taxes like every other citizen.”

Ambrosino, who was a Hempstead Town Board member from 2003 until this year, was an attorney and was "of counsel" at a Uniondale law firm.

In 2011, Ambrosino incorporated Vanderbilt Consulting Group, Inc., and was the company's sole shareholder. He then opened a bank account in the company's name, and was the only one with access to it. From 2013 through 2015, Ambrosino diverted more than $800,000 in legal fees from clients, including the Nassau County IDA and the Nassau County Local Economic Assistance Corporation, that he was required to provide to his firm and deposited them in the Vanderbilt account.

Ambrosino also evaded income taxes and filed false corporate tax returns for Vanderbilt for 2011, 2012 and 2013. He claimed false business expense deductions and didn't report the money he diverted into the account. He defrauded the IRS of $254,628, which he will have to repay.

As part of his plea, Ambrosino neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing in the case.