Tax Evasion - White Collar Crime Means Hard Time for Rizzo

WITH TAX EVASION OUT OF THE WAY, ROBERT RIZZO LOOKS FORWARD TO SENTENCING FOR STATE CORRUPTION CHARGES

This week, most of us breathe a sigh of relief now that the April 15th tax deadline is over. While some are elated by the prospect of getting a check back in the mail, and others groaned as they licked the envelope to say goodbye to hard earned cash, Robert Rizzo no longer suffers the anticipation of sentencing for IRS Tax Evasion charges. Fittingly, last week during the crunch to file taxes, Rizzo was sentenced to 33 months, but wait there’s more.

The former Bell City Administrator (CA) also pled no contest to 69 corruption related charges to which Judge Kathleen Kennedy stated she would impose a 10-12 year sentence to be served concurrently with the 33 month sentence. A twist of the knife came when in federal court, U.S. District Judge George H. King decided that Rizzo would have to serve his terms consecutively.

Judge King stated that there shouldn’t be ”a bulk discount for criminal behavior.” James Spertus, Rizzo’s criminal defense attorney claimed that Judge King’s decree had not undermined the efforts to reduce the punitive potential for his client, and that his time will be served in a non-violent offender federal prison, rather than a state prison mixed in with violent felons.

So what did Mr. Rizzo do that was so bad? What has become known as “The City of Bell Scandal” involved a large number of city officials and city council members, who were charged with misappropriating public funds, conflict of interest, falsifying public documents, and secreting public documents, and yes of course tax evasion. Bell is just one of many involved in a city corruption scheme that came close to bankrupting the city.

One of the tricky balancing acts Bell attempted to make with his taxes was to claim a number of phony personal deductions to offset funds that were hard earned through efforts to rip off the city in his trusted public position. Even in a federal institution, white collar crime does get you hard time. Rizzo won’t see freedom for many years. So when you think about your hard earned cash that the IRS takes without so much as leaving you cab fare for the morning, you can be thankful that you aren’t Mr. Rizzo.

Check out an article in the LA Times reviewing the results of the tax evasion sentencing here: Robert Rizzo gets 33-month prison term for tax fraud