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May 27, 2022

Man Conspired with an IRS Employee to Defraud the United States

On March 15, 2022, in the Northern District of Texas, Carmine Bianco was sentenced for conspiracy to defraud the United States. At the suggestion of an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revenue officer, with whom Bianco had a personal relationship, he acquired a restaurant, an emergency services medical company, and a rehabilitation center that were delinquent with their employment taxes.

According to the court documents, beginning in 2009, and continuing into 2017, revenue officer Sonya Vivar prepared Bianco’s individual income tax returns and developed a personal friendship. Vivar was assigned, or at times requested assignment to employment tax collection cases that involved various individual taxpayers and businesses. Vivar assisted Bianco with acquisition of these businesses. Bianco transferred the assets into newly formed entities and continued operations. As the owner, Bianco was responsible for withholding and paying employment taxes to the IRS. However, Vivar made entries into IRS systems to show that the delinquent employment taxes were not collectible or Bianco was not responsible.

For example, in or around 2013, Vivar was assigned the rehabilitation services business case. The entity had accrued in excess of $3 million in unpaid employment taxes. Vivar told the owner of the rehabilitation business that Bianco could assist with resolving the outstanding tax liabilities. Bianco obtained ownership, changed the name, continued operations, but did not pay the delinquent or all of the new accrued employment taxes. Subsequently, Vivar closed the IRS collection case as uncollectable and identified the rehabilitation business as defunct although knowing Bianco was operating the entity under a new name. On or about July 28, 2017, Vivar updated IRS records to indicate Bianco was not liable for employment taxes related to the rehabilitation business.

Bianco received 48 months’ imprisonment, two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $4,744,326.87 in restitution and a $100 special assessment fee. On July 23, 2021, Vivar received 36 months’ imprisonment, one year of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a $100 assessment fee.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: N.D. Tex., J., filed July 23, 2021; N.D. Tex., J., filed March 16, 2022; N.D. Tex., Information, filed August 25, 2021; N.D. Tex., Factual Resume, filed September 29, 2021; and DOJ Press Release published March 17, 2022.