Date: Jan. 19, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, Lorraine Pilitz was sentenced by United States District Judge Joanna Seybert to 33 months' imprisonment for illegally structuring financial transactions, corruptly obstructing the Internal Revenue Service and filing false tax returns. Pilitz was also ordered to pay $324,702.78 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and forfeited a commercial property in Lindenhurst, New York. Pilitz was convicted of the charges in November 2022 after a two-week trial. Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Thomas Fattorusso, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New York (CI), announced the sentence. "For years Pilitz thought she could get away with hiding substantial amounts of cash and income, impeding the Internal Revenue Service, and cheating her employees, until a jury found her guilty on all counts. Today's sentence sends a message to the defendant and others who place greed above following the law that this Office will vigorously prosecute those who commit tax fraud," stated United States Attorney Peace. "Lorraine Pilitz lined her pockets with money owed to the government by hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars and grossly underreporting her income with an 'off-the-books' payroll. IRS CI New York worked closely with the Eastern District of New York on this case, and Pilitz has since been convicted by a jury of her peers. Today's sentencing means she now faces the consequences of her self-serving criminal acts," stated IRS-CI Special Agent-in-Charge Fattorusso. As proven at trial, Pilitz owned and operated several automobile-related businesses on Long Island. Financial institutions are required to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) with the IRS for each transaction in excess of $10,000. Between 2011 and 2013, the defendant routinely structured cash deposits to avoid the required CTR filings – depositing cash amounts just under $10,000. As a result of Pilitz's scheme, hundreds of thousands of dollars were concealed from the IRS. As part of the same scheme to conceal her income, Pilitz also diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars of business checks into her and her family's personal bank accounts, maintained "off-the-books" payrolls, failed to file personal and corporate tax returns, and filed false tax returns that severely underreported her income. The government's case is being handled by the Office's Long Island Criminal Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Burton T. Ryan, Jr., Adam R. Toporovsky, Madeline O'Connor and Diane Leonardo are in charge of the prosecution with assistance from Paralegal Specialist Michael Compitello. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
