National Fish exec Richard Pandolfo pleads guilty to tax fraud

National Fish and Seafood

Richard Pandolfo, a senior sales executive at National Fish & Seafood in Gloucester, Massachusetts, United States, pleaded guilty in federal court in Boston to tax fraud on 20 April. He will be sentenced on 13 July.

Pandolfo was indicted on the tax fraud charges by a federal grand jury last June for failing to pay nearly USD 26,000 (EUR 23,404) in taxes.  

From 2008 to 2012, Pandolfo received “substantial supplemental income” from National Fish & Seafood’s then-president, Jack Ventola, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, District of Massachusetts. Ventola, who paid Pandolfo around USD 95,000 (EUR 88,814) in unreported income, resigned from National Fish & Seafood in late 2015, following his federal indictment on conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government. The DOJ said Ventola failed to pay taxes on about USD 2 million (EUR 1.9 milion) in income as part of the conspiracy with Pandolfo.

Pandolfo, 71, did not report or pay taxes on any of the payments that were made to him or to his spouse, according to the DOJ.

“Other payments were made by a corporate entity controlled by the seafood processor’s president to a purported interior design company set up in the name of Pandolfo’s spouse. Pandolfo did report that income, but improperly deducted personal expenses from that income as business expenses, thereby improperly reducing the taxes he owed,” the DOJ said.

As part of the guilty plea, Pandolfo agreed to pay the full amount owed in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.

Pandolfo could receive a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine of USD 100,000 (EUR 93,489). However, actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than maximum penalties, according to the DOJ.

National Fish is owned by Hong Kong-based Pacific Andes International Holdings.

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