KC businessman pleads guilty in tax scheme

courtsLet’s see, pay taxes or use the money to gamble, buy a lake house and such?

A Kansas City business owner pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday for a scheme in which he collected employment taxes from employees and kept the money.

Joseph Patrick Balano, 54, of Kansas City also did not pay the employer portion of the taxes, for a total loss to the government of $493,443.

Also from a press release by federal prosecutors:

Balano owned Global Employment Group, Inc., doing business as Staffing Connections (Global Employment) in Kansas City and Grandview.

His tax transgressions date from April 2008 to April 2009.

He kept most of the money for things like his own expenses and those of family members, including gambling, car payments and mortgage payments on a home and a lake house.

A federal judge in Kansas City could later sentence Balano to up to five years plus a $10,000 fine and an order of restitution.

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