Owner of Rockland County payroll tax service pleads guilty to fraud and tax evasion charges
Federal officials today announced that a Monsey man pleaded guilty in White Plains federal court today to wire fraud and tax evasion charges relating to his theft of over $2.3 million of funds that were entrusted to him by dozens of corporations in order to satisfied the corporations' federal payroll tax obligations.
Menachem Hirsch owned and operated PAL Data Processing, Inc., based in Monsey. It provided payroll-related services for corporate clients in Rockland County and northern New Jersey.
According to the Information and Hirsch's guilty plea, after his clients advanced him the monies to pay the IRS for the clients' payroll tax obligations, Hirsch used the clients' funds to make personal bets in the stock market. As a result of those stock market trades, the Information alleges, he lost over $2.3 million and tried to cover up those losses by preparing and filing with the IRS false and fraudulent payroll tax returns, which falsely underreported and under-paid the clients' payroll tax obligations.
It is alleged that he prepared and filed with the IRS over 160 false and fraudulent payroll tax returns.
Hirsch, 36, faces five years' incarceration on each of the wire fraud and tax evasion charges to which he pleaded guilty, as well as fines of over $4.5 million and restitution in the amount of $2.3 million.
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/RC_fraud-08Dec04.htm
