Former Town of Oyster Bay Official Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison

Former Town of Oyster Bay Commissioner of Planning and Development, Frederick Ippolito, was sentenced to 27 months in prison for tax evasion on Wednesday.

In addition Ippolito, who plead guilty to the charges in January, was ordered to three years of supervised release and to pay $548,487 in restitution.

The sentencing proceeding was held before U.S. District Judge Leonard D. Wexler.

“Today’s sentence reinforces that no one is immune from the laws of the United States," U.S. Attorney Robert Capers said. "The defendant’s position as an influential official within a local municipality did not exempt him from paying his fair share of taxes, just like any other citizen. He has now been held accountable for his actions.”

The Syosset resident was charged in March 2015 for evading taxes on the $2 million in consulting fees he received from the Old Bethpage-based Carlo Lizza and Sons, Paving, Inc., as well as from the Lizza family trust between 2008 and 2013, according to the U.S. Attorney.

The 77-year-old was accused of failing to report it to the International Revenue Service (IRS) on his personal tax returns or the tax returns of entities he controlled including CAI Associates, LTD (which is president of), a consulting and snow removal business, and a former officer of a CAI Restaurant, Christiano’s in Syosset.

He resigned after entering his guilty plea in January.

Originally he was supposed to receive a possible maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on each of the six counts, the U.S. attorney said in March.

The sentencing was delayed twice, once last month after Judge Wexler claimed that he wanted more information on the relationship between Ippolito and the company and plans on giving him a higher sentence that originally agreed upon in the plead deal and once in July because Wexler wanted to know if the money the company paid Ippolito affected the paving contracts in the town, Newsday reports.