What is it about God and taxes?
First we had Kent Hovind, the creationist who said the IRS couldn’t force him to pay payroll taxes because he was “God’s employee.”
And now we have one Frank Amodeo (“Amo” is Latin for love and “deo” Latin for God, hence, Frank Lovegod) who, according to Amy Edwards of the Orlando Sentinel, claimed,
[H]e had the powers of an Old Testament prophet and that he one day would rule the world.
Edwards reports that,
[Amodeo's] crimes stemmed from his private-equity firm Mirabilis Ventures Inc., which created and bought distressed companies, including ones that provided payroll services. He held onto employee withholding taxes that should have gone to the IRS.
A federal judge in Orlando sentenced Amodeo to 22 1/2 years in prison for intentionally stealing $181 million in payroll taxes withheld from employees’ checks. Amodeo was also ordered to serve three years probation upon his release and pay $181 million in restitution to the U.S. government.
Assistant U.S. Attorney I. Randall Gold said,
The United States is very satisfied with the sentence. We believe this sends a message that you cannot steal taxpayer’s monies.
Amodeo, who suffers from bi-polar disorder, remained silent but twitched throughout the proceedings.
We wrote about Mr. Amodeo’s tax problems in a previous post titled Tampa Bay Businessman Pleads Guilty to Payroll Tax Fraud.
Warning: If you haven’t made your payroll tax deposits, you need to immediately come up with a plan to do so. The IRS is cracking down on employers who withhold payroll taxes from their employees’ paychecks and then use that money for their own purposes. If you can’t pay what you owe, speak to a qualified tax professional about your options. Procrastination and avoidance will only make matters worse.
Related Posts:
What Happens if Your Business Hasn’t Made its Payroll Tax Deposits?
Five Biggest Payroll Tax Mistakes of Small Business Owners
4 responses so far ↓
1 IRS Files $800 Million Lien Against John Kerry for President Campaign // Jun 4, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] IRS take this long to make an assessment and pursue enforced collection. Read my prior post titled Payroll Tax Crimes: “Lovegod” Gets 22 Years For Failure to Remit Payroll Taxes to see what happens to ordinary businessmen who don’t pay their payroll [...]
2 ClubFed Is In Their Future « Taxable Talk // Oct 25, 2009 at 12:44 am
[...] Frank Amadeo bragged that one day he’ll rule the world. Well, he didn’t send $181 million to the IRS, so perhaps he could have afforded a small country. That’s after he spends the next 22 1/2 years at ClubFed. He was sentenced yesterday and must also make $181 million in restitution. If there’s a certainty in tax prosecutions, it’s that if you don’t remit trust fund taxes you will be prosecuted. Peter Pappas has more on this story. [...]
3 Tax Evasion: Queens Painting Contractor Indicted // Dec 11, 2009 at 12:18 am
[...] Payroll Tax Crimes: “Lovegod” Gets 22 Years For Failure to Remit Payroll Taxes Bookmark & Share: [...]
4 Wilbert@ Calgary payroll // Sep 3, 2011 at 4:14 am
That’s a sad thing in handling money. You can’t keep yourself from desiring to have more money even in a wrong way.
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