Constitution State News

Vanessa Roberts Avery, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Harry T. Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation in New England, announced that Mark Legowski, 60, of Farmington, waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Kari A. Dooley in Bridgeport to filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, from January 2015 through December 2017, Legowski was a self-employed accountant and tax return preparer doing business as Legowski & Company, Inc. (“LCI”) in Farmington. Legowski prepared income tax returns for approximately 400 to 500 individual clients and approximately 50 to 60 businesses. For the 2015 through 2017 tax years, in order to reduce his personal income tax liability, Legowski willfully underreported LCI’s gross receipts in LCI’s computer bookkeeping system by excluding some customer payment checks. He then filed false personal income tax returns that failed to report a total of more than $1.4 million in business income, which resulted in a loss to the IRS of $499,289.

For example, on his 2017 income tax return, Legowski reported taxable income of $56,060 and a tax liability of $6,070 but failed to report an additional $496,808 in business income, which resulted in an income tax deficiency of $178,581.

Judge Dooley scheduled sentencing for November 25, at which time Legowski faces a maximum term of imprisonment of three years. Legowski also has agreed to cooperate with the IRS to pay $499,289 in back taxes as well as penalties and interest.

Legowski is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing.

This investigation is being conducted by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen.