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PORT CHARLOTTE — Port Charlotte businessman Casey Padula was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for conspiring to commit tax and bank fraud.
Padula, 48, was the sole shareholder of marketing and information technology business Demandblox Inc. According to a Department of Justice statement, Padula conspired to move funds for his benefit from Demandblox to offshore accounts in Belize, depositing about $2.5 million.
He used the funds to pay for personal expenses and purchase personal assets, the statement says, falsely recording the payments in Demandblox's corporate books as intellectual property rights or royalty fees. He deducted them as business expenses on 2012 and 2013 corporate tax returns. Padula's false deductions caused a tax loss of more than $728,000.
Padula also conspired to commit bank fraud, authorities contended. He had a $1.5 million mortgage on his Port Charlotte home, but told Bank of America in 2012 he couldn't repay the loan. Padula then provided Robert Robinson III with more than $625,000 from a Belize bank account to fund a short sale of the home. Less than two months after the closing, Robinson conveyed the house back to Padula by transferring ownership to an entity in Belize owned by Padula. Robinson was sentenced to five years of probation for his role.
“Casey Padula used secret numbered bank accounts, foreign shell companies and phony deductions to hide millions and evade U.S. taxes,” says Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg in a statement. “His 57 month sentence today makes clear that there is no place safe in the world for tax cheats to hide their money and feel secure that the Department of Justice and the IRS will not uncover their scheme and hold them fully accountable.”
Padula was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay a fine of $100,000, pay restitution of $728,609 to the IRS and pay restitution of $739,459.90 to Bank of America.
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