Former Iceoplex co-owner convicted
Former Iceoplex at Southpointe co-owner Steven Lynch was convicted Thursday by a federal jury of 16 counts of failing to collect, account for and pay over employment taxes, announced Principal Deputy Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
According to evidence presented at trial, between 2004 and 2015, Lynch, a tax attorney, controlled the finances of the Iceoplex’s fitness center, ice rink, soccer court, restaurant and bar. He was responsible for collecting income and employment taxes withheld from employee wages, accounting for those taxes, filing payroll tax returns and paying those taxes over to the Internal Revenue Service.
The jury, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, found between 2012 through 2015, Lynch, of Pittsburgh, failed to timely pay to the IRS more than $790,000 in taxes withheld from the wages of the employees for those Iceoplex businesses.
“Employees are entrusted with collecting the taxes withheld from their employees’ wages, and they have an absolute legal obligation to pay that money over to the IRS,” said Ciraolo.
He said Lynch’s conviction “serves as a strong reminder to all employers that failure to comply with employment tax obligations has significant consequences, including prosecution and incarceration. The department, together with its partners within the IRS, will continue to vigorously pursue those who violate our nation’s tax laws and threaten the integrity of our tax system.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2017.
Lynch faces a statutory maximum sentence of up to five years in prison for each count of willfully failing to collect, account for and pay over employment tax, as well as a period of supervised release and monetary penalties.