Federal agents locked up the owner of a Glendale construction company who allegedly cheated the IRS out of $650,000 in tax revenue.
Rafal Ziolkowski, 41, of Ridgewood owns Oliva Construction located at 72-37 Cooper Ave. in Glendale. Authorities arrested him on July 17 on a nine-count indictment that includes charges of willfully failing to collect and pay taxes, conspiracy to defraud the United States and making false statements to federal agents.
Between January 2010 and December 2013, according to U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, Ziolkowski allegedly failed to report cash wages that he paid to his workers to the federal government, allowing him to skip mandatory payments under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).
An investigation found that Ziolkowski paid his workers in cash obtained by cashing commercial checks.
Members of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation unit eventually uncovered the scheme and confronted Ziolkowski about it. He allegedly told him that he had not visited a check cashing establishment, which turned out to be a lie.
Ziolkowski faces a maximum sentence of 45 years behind bars if convicted of the charges, Donoghue said.
