Yesterday, Joseph LaForte, a Philadelphia man, received a hefty prison sentence totalling 15 and a half years for a slew of serious financial crimes, including securities fraud, tax fraud, and other charges. According to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, the man was deeply ingrained in a scheme that bilked investors out of more than a quarter-billion dollars through a phony investment operation named Par Funding.
Evidence presented in court painted a damning picture of LaForte’s activities, which amassed actual losses to investors of more than $288 million. The court heard, LaForte not only preyed on investors’ trust but orchestrated a dance of deception with the IRS, filing false tax returns and flouting employment tax regulations. He directed about $20 million in taxable income from Par Funding to another entity that, while being operated by him, was nominally owned by someone else, according to the information obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
LaForte’s wrongdoings extended beyond manipulating corporate earnings, as he also took in over $9 million in cash kickbacks from a customer and kept it hidden from the IRS. The IRS was none the wiser about this income on his individual tax returns for the years 2016 through 2018. Subverted as well were Florida’s residency rules, which LaForte claimed under to escape Pennsylvania taxes despite actual residence being in Pennsylvania, leading to $1.6 million in uncollected state tax revenue…