Most businesses maintain a set of books: the accounting records that show the income and expenses of the business. Most businesses keep accurate books. After all, it’s important to know how profitable the business really is. Other businesses, though, like the idea of two sets of books. One set shows the actual income and expenses. The second set shows lesser numbers that can be used so that lower taxes are paid. As long as no one finds out it’s an effective (but illegal) means of lowering the tax bill.
That’s exactly what John Pinone and Francis DelMastro are alleged to have done. Mr. Pinone and Mr. DelMastro ran a bar in Storrs, Connecticut called Civic Pub. The business, operated as an LLC, received cash. The owners, though, have been indicted on conspiracy and willfully filing false tax returns. It’s alleged that the owners kept the cash on the real set of books, not the books provided to their accountant and used to prepare their LLC and personal tax returns.
Mr. DelMastro is accused of keeping the allegedly skimmed cash in various places in his home, including his freezer (shades of former Congressman William “Cold Cash” Jefferson).
Mr. Pinone is a former star basketball player at Villanova and is currently a high school basketball coach. His attorney told the Hartford Courant, “We ask the people of this state to keep an open mind and remember John is presumed innocent. These proceedings are at the beginning and not at the end.”