Bean Town Times

BOSTON – The co-owner of a Mattapan plumbing and heating supply company has been sentenced for filing false tax returns in connection with a scheme involving millions of dollars in unreported business receipts used to buy gold and silver bars.

Claudio Poles, 78, of Dorchester, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to four months in prison and one year of supervised release. Poles was also ordered to pay a fine of $200,000 and $2,961,261 in restitution. In May 2024, Poles pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false tax returns.

Poles failed to accurately disclose the company’s gross business receipts to its tax preparer, who prepared the company’s tax returns using the false information provided by Poles. He then used some of the unreported gross receipts to purchase more than $10 million worth of gold and silver bars from bullion dealers. To conceal the nature of these purchases made from the company’s bank accounts, Poles described them in the memo section of checks as being for boilers, materials, and other plumbing and heating supplies.

Between 2019 and 2022, Poles falsely reported losses on his individual tax returns and omitted personal income received from the business through purchasing gold and silver bars.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mackenzie A. Queenin of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.