HARTFORD, Conn. — A resident of Hardeeville, S.C. who formerly lived in New Milford, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in Hartford federal court to a tax offense, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut.
Prosecutors say Kevin Biebel, 71, operated Art Metal Industries, LLC (AMI), a metal fabrication business. Prosecutors said that between 2016 and 2020, Biebel failed to report more than $2.8 million in business income from AMI, resulting in a tax loss to the government of approximately $900,000.
He also failed to withhold and pay approximately $300,000 in employment taxes and failed to file individual income tax returns for the 2018, 2019, and 2020 tax years.
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In 2017, AMI had total gross receipts of more than $1.5 million and a net profit of more than $550,000; that year he transferred more than $350,000 from AMI to his personal bank account for numerous personal expenditures, prosecutors said.
In 2018, the Internal Revenue Service attempted to collect delinquent payroll taxes from Biebel for AMI and instructed him to file Individual Income Tax Returns (Forms 1040) for the 2016 and 2017 tax years. In September 2018, Biebel filed the returns, which prosecutors said fraudulently reported that he had zero total income and zero total tax due for both years.
AMI received more than $2.7 million in gross receipts and had a profit of more than $1.2 million in 2018 according to prosecutors. That year, Biebel transferred funds from an AMI bank account to his personal bank account and another bank account held in the name of Diego Trust LLC, a limited liability company for which Biebel was the sole listed member, prosecutors said.
Biebel used more than $750,000 in funds from those accounts to purchase a home in South Carolina and other assets, according to prosecutors.
On Tuesday, Biebel pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years. He also agreed to pay restitution of $1,208,801, prosecutors said.
Biebel is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.
The case is being investigated by the IRS’ Criminal Investigation Division.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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