4 County Residents Charged With Tax Fraud

Four Westchester residents, two who live on Purchase Street in Rye, face felony charges after the county district attorney says they failed to pay a combined tax liability of $275,000 over the last seven years.

Christine Principato, 33, of 549 Purchase Street, Rye, was charged with two counts of third degree criminal tax fraud — class D felonies — and two counts of repeated failure to pay income tax returns — class E felonies. Her husband Charles Principato, 49, faces one count of criminal tax fraud, two counts of failure to pay income tax returns — all also felonies — and one criminal tax fraud violation, a misdemeanor. 

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore and New York State Department of Taxation and Finance commissioner Thomas Mattox said in a release that Charles Principato failed to file his wife's personal income taxes from 2004 to 2008 and failed to file his own in 2008.

The couple own and operate an informercial business, according to the release.

In 2009 Christine Principato filed her own income taxes, stating an income of $324,583 with a tax liability of $24,137, but did not pay it, the DA said. After he was informed of the investigation Charles Principato submitted and paid his wife's returns from 2004 to 2008, which totaled $79,000, the DA said.

Both are due in Harrison Town Court on March 29. 

Andrew Summa, 65, of Port Chester, did not report his income from 2004 to 2009, during which time he had an income between $78,000 and $163,000, according to the DA. After he was informed of a state investigation Summa, a college professor at the Graduate Institute, Inc. filed his returns for those years, paying a tax liability of $12,044.

He was charged with two counts of repeated failure to pay income tax returns — class E felonies — and two criminal tax fraud violations, both misdemeanors.

Summa is due in Port Chester Village Court on April 7.

Leslie Thompson, 56, of Mount Vernon, was charged with failing to file her returns from 2005 to 2007 and with underestimating her salary, which was between $292,000 and $900,000 during that time, according to the DA.

Thompson, who is a former vice president of a New York City based commercial real estate firm, was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal tax fraud — class D felonies — and one count of repeated failure to file personal income tax returns — a class E felony.

She is due in Mount Vernon City Court on April 21.

The charges against all four were filed on March 15 as part of a statewide initiative know as "project non-filer", which is being conducted by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

If convicted, each suspect faces maximum penalties ranging from four to seven years in state prison.