A Des Plaines, Ill., man, Nikko D'Ambrosio, 32, was hit with a one-year sentence in federal lockup for cooking the books on his tax returns, feds said. The suburban Chicago man embellished his business expenses and charitable donations on his personal income tax filings for 2019 and 2020, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Found guilty by a federal jury earlier this year, the electronic sweepstakes kiosk operator’s salesperson made the claim that he had driven an improbable distance, more than 474,000 miles, for business within two years. Adding to his list of fabrications, D’Ambrosio also stated he incurred over $263,000 in business meals during the same timeframe. according to a statement from the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Morris Pasqual.
His purported charitable contribution claims were also dismantled. D’Ambrosio claimed over $63,000 in donations to a Chicago Catholic church, yet a representative confirmed that D'Ambrosio was no parishioner, and financial audits confirmed the church had received no donations from him in those years.
During a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin handed down the sentence in Chicago. In a statement obtained by the justice department's press release, IRS and FBI officials underscored the collaborative effort that brought the false tax statements to light, aiming to deter would-be fraudsters from similar attempts to deceive the tax system.
