Owner of Boston Cab federally charged
The owner of Boston Cab was charged with tax evasion and fraud offenses Tuesday in federal court, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Edward J. Tutunjian, 66, of Belmont, who has owned and run Boston Cab since around 1972, was charged in U.S. District Court with payroll tax evasion, employing undocumented workers, and failing to pay overtime wages.
EJT Management Inc., through which Tutunjian operated Boston Cab, was charged with defrauding the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by enabling employees to obtain federal housing subsidies to which they were not entitled, authorities said.
In plea agreements, Tutunjian and EJT agreed to pay restitution for their crimes, totaling more than $2.3 million, according to the statement.
One of Tutunjian’s lawyers, Andrew Good, said in a statement to the Globe that his client “accepts full responsibility for his unlawful practices.”
According to the Globe, prosecutors say they will seek at least a two-year prison term for Tutunjian followed by a year of supervised release.
As of 2014, Tutunjian and EJT owned and leased about 372 cab medallions, receiving millions in revenue each year. They also had direct employees, a number of whom were unauthorized to work in the U.S., authorities said.
According to court documents, Tutunjian hid the size of his company’s payroll from the IRS, paying his employees partly or completely in cash and keeping those payments undeclared. From 2009 to 2013, EJT allegedly evaded, and helped its employees evade, nearly $740,000 in taxes through these undeclared cash payments.
When it came to undocumented workers, EJT never issued W-2 forms and didn’t withhold or pay taxes, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
In March of 2013, Tutunjian was the subject of a Boston Globe Spotlight Team investigation into his business practices.
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