Connecticut insurance salesman sentenced to 5 years in prison for tax fraud

Terry DiMartino, a Newington, Connecticut, insurance salesman was sentenced to 70 months in prison for tax fraud, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. DiMartino was convicted after a jury trial in March 2016 of one count of corruptly interfering with the due administration of the internal revenue laws, two counts of filing false tax returns and five counts of willfully failing to file tax returns. DiMartino was an insurance salesman for numerous insurance companies located in Connecticut and elsewhere. Despite earning millions of dollars in insurance commissions over the last decade, DiMartino did not file accurate tax returns or pay the taxes owed.

According to the evidence presented at trial, DiMartino attempted to obstruct the IRS by mailing false documents to the IRS, including three false tax returns for the 2007 tax year, one of which requested a fraudulent $14 million refund. He sent false and threatening correspondence to the IRS in an attempt to defeat the IRS’s assessment, collection and investigative efforts. He submitted false and threatening correspondence to insurance companies that sought to cooperate with the IRS collection activities.Œ DiMartino also set up nominee entities that he used to divert his insurance commissions. He used the nominees to hide and conceal assets to prevent the IRS from collecting on his tax liabilities. DiMartino has not filed an accurate individual income tax return since the 1996 tax year.

In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge Alvin W. Thompson ordered DiMartino to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $658,547.62 in restitution to the IRS.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Tax Division Trial Attorney Jason M. Scheff and former Tax Division Trial Attorney Erin B. Pulice, who prosecuted the case. The Tax Division expressed gratitude to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut for their assistance in the investigation and prosecution of this case.