Man sentenced for tax fraud in connection to his company's yacht
Dec 17, 2024
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — A Rochester business owner must pay millions of dollars in restitution for tax charges connected to his company's yacht.
56-year-old James Leonardo, the sole member and owner of MY PI, LLC., was sentenced to time served and one year of post-supervised release. He was convicted of filing a false tax return.
MY PI, LLC. owned "Pure Insanity," a 110-foot yacht. Leonardo was supposed to report net profits or losses from the business use of the yacht on his federal income tax returns.
Investigators said Leonardo reported the rental income from 2015 to 2018, but falsely deducted all the losses incurred with respect to operation and maintenance. He falsely claimed the boat was used all the time for business.
It was discovered the yacht was only used one-third of the time for business purposes and he was only entitled to deduct one-third of the losses. Investigators said he failed to report and pay $872,869.
In addition to his sentence, Leonard must pay over $2 million in restitution.