Conway Businessman Pleads Guilty To Bank Fraud And Tax Evasion

BOSTON – A Conway, Massachusetts businessman pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for using $2.6 million of company funds to pay for personal expenses.

George J. Rosa III pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to bank fraud and tax evasion. Sentencing is scheduled for May 29, 2014.

As the owner and president of the Hallmark Institute of Photography, Rosa spent approximately $2.6 million of company funds for his own purposes, such as construction at his personal residence, gambling, and approximately $55,000 on clothing, footwear, and accessories. Rosa disguised these expenses by reconfiguring them on the company’s books as proper business expenses. In doing so, Rosa defrauded the People’s United Bank in connection with a series of corporate loans, two of which were guaranteed by the Small Business Administration, by submitting the altered books to the bank. Rosa also used the company’s altered books as a basis to file false income tax returns for himself and the company.

Rosa faces a maximum of 30 years in prison on the charge of bank fraud and five years of in prison on the charge of tax fraud, five years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine or twice the gross gain or loss of his crime.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz, William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, and Daniel J. O’Rourke, Assistant Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General, Investigations Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz's Springfield Branch Office.