Charlestown Resident Pleads Guilty To Tax Scheme At Suffolk Downs

BOSTON - A Charlestown man who helped gamblers at Suffolk Downs in East Boston avoid paying taxes on winnings was convicted today.

Gary Boyar, 53, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to corruptly endeavoring to impede the Internal Revenue Service and tax evasion.

Boyar was a “ten-percenter,” a phrase referring to the ten-percent fee charged by those who cash winning tickets for gamblers so that the gamblers’ identities are not reported to the IRS. This scheme allowed gamblers to avoid paying taxes on their winnings, which were taxable income. Boyar cashed tickets and submitted forms to the IRS associated with those tickets using his deceased father’s social security number to obstruct the IRS. During the tax years 2004 through 2006, Boyar cashed more than $2 million worth of winning tickets at Suffolk Downs, and submitted more than 1,700 false IRS forms using his deceased father’s social security number. This conduct obstructed the IRS from determining the identities of the actual winners.

In 2008, Boyar filed a false 2004 income tax return claiming a $591.74 refund from the IRS. The return omitted the income earned through his ten-percent fee scheme. Boyar did not file any income tax return for the years 2005 and 2006.

The maximum sentence under the statute is five years in prison for tax evasion and three years in prison for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the IRS.

United State Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Keneally of the Department of Justice Tax Division; and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Sean R. Delaney of the Tax Division.