U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced that James Leonardo, a Rochester business owner, was sentenced for filing a false tax return. The 56-year-old was given time served and one year of supervised release by Chief U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Wolford. Additionally, Leonardo must pay restitution amounting to $2,267,315.42.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard A. Resnick handled the case and explained that Leonardo is the sole member and owner of MY PI, LLC, which owns a yacht named "Pure Insanity." This yacht generated rental income for MY PI, LLC. According to Resnick, from 2015 through 2018, Leonardo reported the rental income on his personal federal income tax returns but falsely deducted all losses related to the yacht's operation and maintenance by claiming it was used entirely for business purposes.
In reality, only one-third of the yacht's use was for business purposes; thus, Leonardo was entitled to deduct just one-third of the associated losses. Consequently, he failed to report and pay additional taxes totaling $872,869 over those years.