South Bay CEO sentenced for failing to pay employment taxes

SAN JOSE A South Bay executive was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison for failing to pay more than million in employment taxes to the IRS federal prosecutors reported Related Articles San Jose police officer arrested on suspicion of sexual assault against a minor Palo Alto man arrested on suspicion of assault after allegedly throwing table at passerby More than worth of Legos stolen from Los Gatos toy store Man discovered with life-threatening injuries in Sunnyvale Man arrested in connection with death of -year-old Morgan Hill woman As the CEO of Campbell-based metal-coating company Vivid Inc John Comeau was responsible for withholding Social Guard and federal income taxes from the wages of workers and then paying those funds to the IRS each quarter according to the U S Attorney s Office However from the first quarter of to the fourth quarter of Comeau did not pay all the taxes owed to the IRS prosecutors announced He also filed false quarterly employment tax returns underreporting Vivid s wages by more than million Comeau concealed the scheme by issuing tax forms to employees that either underreported or over-reported wages paid to them by the company according to prosecutors Prosecutors noted Comeau used several of the withheld funds to maintain a confident lifestyle that included a million home in Santa Clara and luxury cars Comeau caused a total tax loss to the IRS of about million according to prosecutors In addition to one year and one day in prison a federal judge ordered Comeau to serve three years of supervised release and pay million in restitution to the IRS