Frank Loconte, Payroll Scheme, Massachusetts 2023

A Beverly Farms man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for his role in a multi-million dollar payroll scheme that defrauded union workers and the IRS.

Frank Loconte, 62, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper on May 30, 2024 for his involvement in a scheme to underreport overtime hours worked by union employees and failing to collect and pay payroll taxes.

Between January 2014 and May 2022, Loconte, who was the president of NER Construction Management Corporation and NER Management LLC, paid certain union workers for overtime hours worked without reporting these hours to the union benefit funds and without making the required payroll tax withholdings and payments.

Loconte also caused NER to file false and fraudulent remittance reports with the benefit funds and the unions, underreporting the overtime hours worked by these employees and depriving the benefit funds and unions of contributions owed to their members.

As a result of Loconte's scheme, union workers were defrauded of more than $1 million in overtime pay, and the IRS was defrauded of more than $3 million in unpaid payroll taxes.

Loconte was also ordered to pay $4.5 million in restitution and a $15,000 fine.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and other officials announced the sentencing, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura J. Kaplan.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/beverly-farms-man-sentenced-20-months-prison-multi-million-dollar-payroll-scheme