Former Beachwood Chiropractor Pleads Guilty To $1.5M Tax Evasion

TRENTON - A former chiropractor who lived in Beachwood pleaded guilty in federal court on Wednesday to evading payment of half a million dollars in income taxes and failing to report a Russian bank account, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Carlo Amato, 57, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton to one count of tax evasion and one count of failure to file a report of foreign financial account (FBAR) while violating another law of the United States and as part of a pattern of illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period.

Amato operated a chiropractic office in Lakewood through two entities: Chiropractic Care Consultants Inc. and Accident Recovery Physical Therapy, from 2012 through 2015.

He deposited checks for chiropractic services into accounts held in the names of his minor children. Amato knew that the checks were taxable as income, but he did not disclose the payments to his accountant or report them on his tax returns, Carpenito said.

Amato said in court that he had an account at UniCredit Bank in Russia in 2014. He admitted that he wired more than $1.5 million to Russian bank accounts, including the UniCredit Bank account, and that he knew that he was obligated to report any foreign bank account with an aggregate value of more than $10,000.

Amato also admitted that he failed to file a report of foreign account, commonly known as an FBAR, for the year 2014 and that the funds he failed to report were the product of a fraudulent scheme in which Amato overbilled at least six insurance companies by more than $1 million by billing for services that were never rendered.

Amato reported no taxable income and no tax due on his 2014 income tax return. His taxable income for 2014 was $561,258. Amato also admitted that the tax due to the IRS for 2014 was $197,036, and that he also evaded more than $300,000 in taxes for the tax years 2012, 2013, and 2015, Carpenito said.

The tax evasion charge carries a maximum potential term of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 or twice the gain to any person or loss to any victims of the offense. The failure to file a report of foreign account charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of $500,000 or twice the gain to any person or loss to any victims of the offense. Amato's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 9, 2019.

Amato agreed to file amended tax returns and make full restitution for the years 2012 through 2015 and file accurate FBARs for the years 2012 through 2017, Carpenito said.

Previous pleas

Amato previously pleaded guilty to money laundering and theft by deception in Ocean County Superior Court. Amato also admitted then that he used his children's trust accounts to funnel the money to his wife and family, who now live in Russia.

While he was out on bail for the overbilling practices, Amato was arrested again for bilking the state of New Jersey and Prudential Insurance Companies out of $116,000 disability benefits between November 2013 and May 2015. He was still working as a chiropractor and receiving the benefits for injuries he said prevented him from working, Ocean County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Al Della Fave has said.

When authorities searched his Beachwood home in December 2017 they found $182,515 in cash hidden in a wall, fraudulent identifications and handwritten plans on how to flee the country, Della Fave has said.
Subscribe

Photo: Courtesy of the Ocean County Jail