A former Pennsylvania health services company executive accused of claiming his luxury cars and 39,000-square-foot mansion as business expenses has been charged with tax fraud, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Joseph Nocito Sr. listed the millions of dollars it cost to build a mega-mansion near Pittsburgh he called "Villa Noci," as well as payments for a personal butler and a Jaguar, Maserati and Rolls Royce as corporate business expenses, authorities said.
The indictment also charges that Nocito understated his personal income and concealed millions of dollars of company profits from the government.
It accuses him and others of fraudulently listing multiple expenses on company ledgers to further the alleged scheme. The checks were categorized as "consulting" or "development" payments and include $237,000 to a swimming pool business, nearly $100,000 for lumber and $10,000 for a stained glass company.
Attorney Phillip DiLucente said in a statement that his client has been cooperative with the government since it started pursuing what he labeled a "tax dispute case" in 2010.
"Mr. Nocito looks forward to resolving this matter in a court of law rather than in the media and he will have no further response to the Government's allegations until the appropriate time and place," the statement read.
Nocito's secretary pleaded guilty in 2015 to helping him evade more than $4 million in federal income taxes. The businessman wasn't listed in an announcement of Ann Harris' plea but authorities said her co-conspirator owned and controlled Nocito's companies and that she fraudulently classified expenses for the co-conspirator's mansion as business costs.
At the time, DiLucente also told the AP that the allegations were a tax dispute.
