'Major World' Manager From LI Admits To Concealing Millions

A Long Island man is one of two former senior managers of an automotive company known as "Major World" to admit to concealing million of dollars in their company's income from the government, according to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Bruce Bendell, 64, of Roslyn, and Harold Bendell, 69, of Englewood Cliffs, NJ pleaded guilty on Thursday to filing a false corporate tax return. The men also paid over $3,888,267 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and resigned from Major Automotive Companies, Inc. prior to their guilty pleas.

“By their pleas, Harold and Bruce Bendell admitted that they concealed millions of dollars of their company’s income and avoided paying their fair share of taxes to the United States government,” United States Attorney Richard P. Donoghue said in a press release.

Major Wold operated automotive dealerships in Queens and throughout the New York Metropolitan area.

Around Aug. 10, 2010, both Bruce and Harold Bendell filed a false corporate tax return Form 1120 for the calendar year 2009 that underreported income and inflated expenses in order to avoid paying the proper taxes owed, officials say. The form failed to report approximately $1,417,814 in gross receipts that Major Wold had received and approximately $2,116,000 in cash payroll expense for which the company did not pay payroll taxes, officials say.

They each face a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

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