Former Owner of Bulkeley House Sentenced To One Year For Tax Evasion

The former owner of the restaurant in downtown New London was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison on for in income he earned over a seven-year period while operating the restaurant.

Luciano G. Mase, 56, of Westbrook, was sentenced by Senior United States District Judge Ellen Bree Burns in New Haven.  Mase also was ordered to pay a fine in the amount of $5,000.  

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office:

Mase owned Moreland Corp., which did business as The Bulkeley House Restaurant, and incorporated the business in his daughter’s name.  Mase and his daughter, who did not work at the restaurant and received no payments from the business, had signatory authority on the business’s two bank accounts.  The Moreland Corp., through the operation of the restaurant, generated cash receipts, some of which Mase deposited into his personal bank accounts rather the business bank accounts.

For the 2003 through 2009 tax years, Mase filed false U.S. Income Tax Returns for an S Corporation for the Moreland Corp. that substantially under reported the business’s gross receipts.  Each year, The Moreland Corp. issued K-1 forms that attributed Moreland Corp.’s ordinary income to Mase’s daughter rather than him.  During these years, Mase reported on his individual income tax returns total income of $136,565 when, in fact, his total income was more than $1.53 million.

As a result of Mase’s conduct, the federal and state governments sustained total tax losses of $380,475 and $70,010, respectively, for the 2003 to 2009 tax years.  Mase is required to pay restitution in those amounts, as well as applicable interest and penalties.  To date, Mase has paid approximately $400,000 to the Internal Revenue Service, including $225,010 in U.S. currency that was seized during a court-authorized search of his residence on April 30, 2010.  MASE owes an additional $396,000 to the IRS, and interest will continue to accrue.

On December 6, 2011, MASE pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.

This matter was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter S. Jongbloed.