A tax preparer, a mortgage broker, a Village Lake Success trustee and his wife were arrested Tuesday for failing to pay a combined total of more than $179,000 New York State income taxes as a part of an ongoing statewide sweep conducted by the Department of Taxation and Finance (NYSDTF).
All were arraigned on charges of repeated failure to file, a felony, at First District Court in Hempstead and were released without bail. None of their lawyers returned calls for comment.
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Adam Kolodny, 47, and his 53-year-old wife, Adrienne, failed to file joint tax returns from 2002 through 2006 and owe more than $82,000 in taxes, Nassau prosecutors said. Mr. Kolodny, a finance director for a telecommunications company, is also a member of the Village of Lake Success Board of Trustees.
Village officials declined to comment. The couple is due back in court on Feb. 16.
Leonard Kornfeld, 70, of Amagansett, allegedly failed to file state tax returns for 2002-2007 and owes more than $34,000. Kornfeld, a self-employed tax preparer who lived in Valley Stream and Long Beach at the time, was additionally charged with criminal tax fraud. He is due back in court on Feb. 19.
Dimitri Petrovsky, 40, of Howard Beach, failed to file state tax returns from 2003 to 2006 and owes the state more than $62,000, prosecutors said. Petrovsky, a proprietor for several mortgage lending companies, lived in Wantagh at the time. He is due back in court on April 8.
“This is what happens when try to cheat on your taxes: we find you, arrest you, and prosecute you.” Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement.
The charges came two weeks after three attorneys, an accountant and a doctor were arrested on similar charges in Nassau. Suffolk officials have also recently rounded up several professionals as well.
Forty-five-year-old Kevin Ryan of Northport, a writer for Hauppauge-based Barrons Educational Series, was charged on Jan. 7 with failing to file personal income tax returns, a felony, according to the state tax department. Authorities say he failed to file from 2002 to 2007, during which time he made $800,000 and allegedly failed to pay $44,000 worth of income taxes. He was released without bail and is due at First District Court in Central Islip on March 3.
Joseph Garthaffner, 72, of Bay Shore, professional engineer who operates an electrical design and consulting business from his home, was charged the same day on an identical charge in addition to one count of criminal tax fraud, authorities said. He personal income tax returns for the years 2005 through 2008, during which he and his wife earned approximately $800,000 and allegedly failed to pay $41,000 in taxes. He is due in court on March 11.
In December, 49-year-old Jordan Wert of Syosset, the owner of Image Quest, a Farmingdale-based printing business, and 59-year-old Stephen Hill of Nevada, a former attorney in Uniondale and Hempstead, were each were charged with separate felony counts for failing to remit tax money to New York State, tax officials said.
Wert pleaded guilty Dec. 18 to grand larceny. He was charged with stealing over $68,000 in state and local sales tax collected from his customers between 2001 and 2007 and failing to report more than $668,000 in taxable sales, authorities said. He paid partial restitution of $25,000 and will be sentenced on Feb. 11.
Hill was charged with grand larceny for allegedly stealing $18,346 of his employee’s state income tax withholdings from 2000 to 2005. He pleaded not guilty on Dec. 22 and could face up to seven years in prison.
“Those who do not file their tax returns should not expect to evade prosecution,” said NYSDTF Acting Commissioner Jamie Woodward. “We are arresting increasing numbers of tax cheats who simply do not file returns.”
More than 40 people have been arrested statewide as a part of the crackdown.
By Kaitlyn Piccoli, Lindsay Christ and Timothy Bolger
