Joseph Lemay Convicted In Southern District Of New York. Faces Five Years In Federal Prison. Latest Seven Bridges Homeowner To Face Federal Lockup.
BY: SEVEN BRIDGES BUREAU | BocaNewsNow.com
DELRAY BEACH, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2024 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — A homeowner in the West Delray Beach community of Seven Bridges is facing federal prison after his conviction on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the IRS. The conspiracy, according to prosecutors, is connected to an alleged moving company scam in the Southern District of New York. The USDOJ provided this advisory to BocaNewsNow.com regarding the conviction of Joseph Eugene Lemay:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that a jury returned a guilty verdict against JOSEPH EUGENE LEMAY, a/k/a “Gene Lemay,” and JOEL LINGAT for criminal tax conspiracy. LEMAY is the former president of a company that provides moving and storage services (“Company-1”), and LINGAT is Company-1’s head bookkeeper. LEMAY and LINGAT conspired to perpetrate a long-running scheme to evade more than approximately $7.7 million in federal payroll taxes owed by Company-1 and affiliated companies to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). The defendants were found guilty following a two-week trial before U. S. District Judge Mary Kay Vysckocil.
According to the allegations in the Indictment, the criminal Complaint previously filed against LINGAT (where LEMAY is identified as CC-1), and the evidence at trial:
From in or about 2010 through in or about December 2016, LEMAY, LINGAT, and other co-conspirators perpetrated a scheme to defraud the U.S. government of payroll and income taxes due and owing to the IRS by Company-1 and affiliated companies. As part of the criminal scheme, LEMAY, LINGAT, and their co-conspirators created front companies, nominally owned by close associates or family members of LEMAY or others at Company-1; assigned (on paper only) foremen and movers working for Company-1 to the sham companies; and fraudulently made it appear that the sham companies were independent contractors, including by creating fake invoices by which the sham companies purportedly billed Company-1 for labor. Because the conspirators fraudulently made it appear that the labor was performed by independent contractors, Company-1 was able to deduct the cost of the labor as an expense on its tax returns, without withholding or paying over any payroll taxes to the IRS. Through the criminal scheme, Company-1 and affiliated companies evaded in excess of approximately $7.7 million in payroll taxes, including FICA and Medicare contributions, during the charged period.
LEMAY, 63, of Delray Beach, Florida, and LINGAT, 62, of Jersey City, New Jersey, were convicted of one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Lemay lives in the 16000 block of Fleur De Lis Way in Delray Beach. He apparently moved to Seven Bridges after living on Brookview Terrace in Hillsdale, NJ.
Lemay joins a long list of Seven Bridges homeowners in, facing, or released from federal prison in what is commonly referred to as “Cellblock 7B.” Read our previous coverage Seven Bridges Delray Beach here.
