Former Bell Administrator Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud; That’s the Least of His Problems

Former Bell (California) City Administrator Robert Rizzo pleaded guilty yesterday to two counts of tax fraud (conspiracy and filing a false income tax return). Mr. Rizzo, though, will likely never directly serve any time at ClubFed for those counts. Why?

Well, Mr. Rizzo pleaded no contest to 69 state counts of corruption. In what is (and was) a huge scandal, Mr. Rizzo and his cronies basically used the City of Bell as their own personal piggy bank. He’s going to be going to state prison for 10 to 12 years (his sentencing will be in March). The scandal allegedly included salaries of up to $800,000; gas tax money being used for these salaries; and falsifying city documents to hide the salaries. The city council members from that time period are awaiting trial.

It is very likely that Mr. Rizzo’s sentence will be served concurrently with his state sentence. However, Mr. Rizzo will owe restitution to the IRS (along with to the state and city).

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This entry was posted on Friday, December 13th, 2013 at 6:50 am and is filed under California. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Former Bell Administrator Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud; That’s the Least of His Problems”

  1. Tax Roundup, 12/16/2013: Ames! And: if you’re explaining, you’re losing. « Roth & Company, P.C says:
    December 16, 2013 at 7:22 am

    […] Fox, Former Bell Administrator Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud; That’s the Least of His Problems:  In what is (and was) a huge scandal, Mr. Rizzo and his cronies basically used the City of Bell […]