Western Mass. Businessman Sentenced For Bank Fraud And Tax Evasion

BOSTON – A Western Massachusetts businessman, who used more than $2 million of company funds for his own purposes, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield for bank fraud and tax evasion.

George J. Rosa, III, 54, of Conway, Mass., the former owner and president of the Hallmark Institute of Photography (HIP) in Greenfield, Mass., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to nine months of confinement in a community correctional center, nine months home confinement, 42 months of supervised release, and $3.4 million in restitution. In March 2013, Rosa pleaded guilty to bank fraud and tax evasion.

Rosa used approximately $2.6 million of company funds for his own purposes, such as construction expenses at his residence, cash for gambling, and approximately $55,000 of clothing, footwear, and accessories. Rosa then disguised these expenses by reconfiguring them on the company’s books as proper business expenses. Having concealed his personal use of company funds, 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.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation in Boston, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.