White Plains Accountant Get Prison For Tax Fraud

WHITE PLAINS, NY — A White Plains accountant will be going to prison for 22 months for tax fraud. Joon H. Kim, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Joseph Cervone, 64, was sentenced Wednesday, Oct. 25 after having pleaded guilty in March to endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws and subscribing to false tax returns.

According to information filed in court, from 2009 through 2012, Cervone, a certified public accountant with an office in White Plains, filed false tax returns that claimed more than $23 million worth of energy and coal credits on behalf of his clients in order to obtain tax refunds. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Also, he filed false tax returns for 2010 and 2011 that failed to report income relating to personal expenses paid on behalf of Cervone from funds obtained as a result of his clients’ false tax returns.

In addition to prison, Cervone was sentenced to one year of supervised release and a $15,000 fine.

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