Wilbur Anthony Huff, Tax Evasion and Bank Bribery, New York 2014

A New York federal court has sentenced a Kentucky businessman to 12 years in prison for a $53 million tax scheme and massive fraud that involved bribery of bank officials.

Wilbur Anthony Huff, 53, of Caneyville and Louisville, Kentucky, was also ordered to pay more than $108 million in restitution for committing various tax crimes that caused more than $50 million in losses to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and a massive fraud that involved the bribery of bank officials, the fraudulent purchase of an insurance company, and the defrauding of insurance regulators and an investment bank.

Huff pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Noemi Reice Buchwald of the Southern District of New York in December 2014.

“The department is committed to vigorously pursuing and prosecuting those individuals who violate the employment tax laws of the United States,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo.

“Anthony Huff and his co-conspirators stole millions of dollars from taxpayers and engaged in extensive frauds, all in the pursuit of additional property, luxury cars and the like,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

According to the information, plea agreement, sentencing submissions and statements made during court proceedings, Huff controlled numerous entities located throughout the United States (Huff-Controlled Entities). Huff controlled the companies and their finances, using them to orchestrate a $53 million fraud on the IRS and other schemes that spanned four states, involving tax violations, bank bribery, fraud on bank regulators and the fraudulent purchase of an insurance company.

Huff concealed his control of the Huff-Controlled Entities by installing other individuals to oversee the companies’ day-to-day functions and to serve as the companies’ titular owners, directors, or officers. Huff also maintained a corrupt relationship with Park Avenue Bank and Charles J. Antonucci Sr., the bank’s president and chief executive officer, and Matthew L. Morris, the bank’s senior vice president.

Tax Crimes: From 2008 to 2010, Huff controlled O2HR, a professional employer organization (PEO) located in Tampa, Florida. Like other PEOs, O2HR was paid to manage the payroll, tax and workers’ compensation insurance obligations of its client companies. However, instead of paying $53 million in taxes that O2HR’s clients owed the IRS and $5 million to Providence Property and Casualty Insurance Company (Providence P&C) – an insurance company based in Oklahoma – for workers’ compensation coverage expenses for O2HR clients, Huff stole the money that his client companies had paid O2HR for those purposes.

Conspiracy to Commit Bank Bribery, Defraud Bank Regulators and Fraudulently Purchase an Oklahoma Insurance Company: From 2007 through 2010, Huff engaged in a massive multi-faceted conspiracy in which he schemed to bribe executives of Park Avenue Bank, defraud bank regulators and the board and shareholders of a publicly-traded company, and fraudulently purchase an Oklahoma insurance company.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/kentucky-businessman-sentenced-new-york-federal-court-53-million-tax-scheme-and-massive-fraud