Peter Tufts, Tax Evasion, Massachusetts 2022

A Medford contractor has been charged with tax evasion and filing false loan applications.

Peter Tufts, 55, of Medford, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of tax evasion and two counts of submitting false loan applications.

The charges stem from a multi-year scheme to underreport income on his tax returns and obtain loans based on false loan applications.

According to the charging document, Tufts, the owner of Tufts Construction, Inc., underreported income on his corporate and personal tax returns for tax years 2015 through 2021, resulting in an income tax loss of more than $465,000.

In addition, Tufts used the proceeds of his income tax evasion scheme to fund an off-the-books cash payroll that Tufts used to avoid employment taxes, causing a payroll tax loss of more than $539,000.

It is further alleged that, while perpetrating his tax evasion scheme, Tufts obtained loans from a local community bank and from the Small Business Administration (SBA) based on false loan applications.

The charge of tax evasion provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

The charge of false loan applications provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, up to five years of supervised release and a fine of $1 million or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.

Tufts is scheduled to plead guilty at a later date.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit.

The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Prosecutors are seeking to recover the losses caused by Tufts’ actions.

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