Rochester business owner pleads guilty to filing a false tax return

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that James Leonardo, 56, of Rochester, NY, pleaded guilty before Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford, to filing a false tax return, which carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison, and a $250,000 fine.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick, who is handling the case, stated that  Leonardo is the sole member and owner of MY PI, LLC. The company owns a 110-foot yacht named “Pure Insanity,” which resulted in rental income for MY PI, LLC. Leonardo was required to report net profits or losses from the business use of the yacht on his personal federal income tax returns. For the years 2015 through 2018, Leonardo reported the rental income received by MY PI, LLC. However, to reduce the taxes owed, he falsely deducted all the losses incurred with respect to operation and maintenance by falsely claiming that the yacht was used 100% of the time for business purposes. In actuality, the yacht was only used for business purposes one-third of the time. As a result, Leonardo was only entitled to deduct one-third of the losses generated for operation and maintenance. As a result, he failed to report and pay additional income taxes totaling $872,869 for 2015 through 2018.

The plea is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, under the direction of Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, New York Field Office, and the Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General’s, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, under the direction Special Agent-in-Charge Patrick J. Hegarty, Northeast Field Office.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 17, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. before Judge Wolford.

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