HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — A 46-year-old West Michigan man, Brian John Scalabrino, faces federal charges for with wire fraud for allegedly embezzling more than $250,000 from his former employer, Metal Standard Corporation of Holland.
He was also charged with four counts of filings false tax returns, according to a statement emailed to media by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Grand Rapids. He was arrested on these charges and appeared in federal court in Grand Rapids on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019.
The wire fraud charge carries a possible prison term of 20 years. The tax charges carry a possible prison term of three years each. Scalabrino, who was the former Director of Finance for Metal Standard Corporation, is accused of embezzling money by altering his payroll records to show a negative federal income tax withholding amount for most pay periods
This fraudulently raised his income most pay periods so that his net income exceeded his reported gross income. He used this method to fraudulently increase his annual pay each year.
The indictment further alleges that Scalabrino created false IRS Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statements which showed fictitious amounts of federal tax withheld from his paycheck. He submitted these false Forms W-2 to the IRS when he filed his federal income tax returns.
Scalabrino also wired additional money from Metal Standard Corporation to the United States Treasury to pay the federal income taxes that had not been withheld from his paychecks. Finally, the indictment alleges that Scalabrino filed four false tax returns for each tax year from 2013 through 2016.
The Criminal Investigation section of the Internal Revenue Service is handling this investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler is the prosecutor for this case.
