CT attorney ordered to pay over $750K in back taxes sentenced to prison for tax evasion

A Wallingford attorney was sentenced to over a year in federal prison on Wednesday for failing to pay over half a million dollars in taxes plus interest and penalties, federal officials said.

Mark Carbutti, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sarala V. Nagala in Hartford to 15 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of tax evasion on Dec. 1, 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Nagala also ordered Carbutti to pay $750,180 in back taxes, interest and penalties.

For the 2013 through 2017 tax years, Carbutti, an attorney specializing in personal injury law, reported around $585,025 in taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service as a result of his legal practice and rental income, court records said. Carbutti reportedly made only limited payments, and interest and penalties accrued as a result.

According to court reports, Carbutti received at least 12 notices from the IRS between December 2014 and May 2019 reminding him of the amounts due and offering instructions on how to make the payment.

When the IRS levied Carbutti’s personal bank accounts for failure to pay, he closed the accounts, court records said. He continued to avoid payments by writing checks from his law firm’s operating account payable to his paralegal, which were then converted to cash and deposited into bank accounts of limited liability companies he created in connection with his real estate holdings, according to court records.

Carbutti also took additional large cash withdrawals from his law firm bank accounts and redeposited them in the bank accounts of his LLCs, court records said. Between 2013 and 2019, he withdrew approximately $600,000 from those bank accounts for personal expenses including gambling at casinos, restaurants, vacations and a BMW, according to court records.

Carbutti is scheduled to report to prison on July 17, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.