Former Tech CEO Pleads Guilty to $14M Payroll Tax Fraud

Andrew Park, a New Hampshire resident and former CEO of a technology startup, pleaded guilty to evading more than $14 million in taxes and failing to file personal tax returns. Park, 49, of Bedford, was responsible for the company's financial affairs, including filing quarterly employment tax returns and managing federal, state, and local payments.

From the company's inception in 2014 until the third quarter of 2021, Park withheld Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes from employee wages but did not remit these taxes to the IRS as required by law. Despite hiring a payroll service that regularly notified him of the taxes due and receiving notices from the employee about discrepancies in Social Security payments, Park failed to pay the required taxes. He also neglected to pay the company's share of Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Additionally, between 2013 and 2020, Park did not file his tax returns without receiving an annual salary of approximately $250,000. These failures contributed to total tax losses exceeding $14 million to the IRS, and additional losses to state and local tax authorities.

Park's sentencing is scheduled for November 14. He faces up to five years in prison for willfully failing to account for and pay taxes and an additional year for failure to file tax returns. Other penalties may include supervised release, fines, and restitution to the IRS and other tax agencies. The final sentence will be determined by a district court judge, taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other factors.

The announcement of Park's guilty plea was made by Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young for the District of New Hampshire. The case is being investigated by IRS Criminal Investigation and is being prosecuted by Chief Assistant Eric Powers of the Internal Revenue Service and Assistant US Attorney Matthew Hunter for the State of New Hampshire.