HOLYOKE BUSINESS OWNER SENTENCED FOR EMBEZZLEMENT AND TAX FRAUD
BOSTON, Mass. - A South Deerfield man was sentenced today in federal court in Springfield for embezzling money from an employee benefit plan and filing false tax returns.
ANDREW ROSS SCOTT, 59, of South Deerfield was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to three years probation, including 10 months of house arrest. On July 7, 2010, Scott pled guilty to embezzling money from an employee benefit plan and filing false tax returns. Judge Ponsor also ordered Scott to pay restitution of $44,591 to the victims of the employee benefit plan embezzlement and $5,511 to the Internal Revenue Service.
At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that had the case proceeded to trial the Government’s evidence would have proven that between April 15, 2004, and December 31, 2007, Scott embezzled $44,591 from an employee benefit plan at ARS Strategic Mail Services, a company that Scott owned in Holyoke. In addition, from 2003 to 2008, Scott filed tax returns falsely claiming that he had contributed $22,479 to a pension and profit sharing plan for ARS Strategic Mail Services employees.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, William Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Division and Edward Maloney, Acting Regional Director of the Employee Benefits Security Administration in Boston made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Regan of Ortiz’s Springfield Office.
