Baldwin CPA charged with swindling client

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A Baldwin accountant was arrested last week on larceny and fraud charges for allegedly stealing from a restaurant owner by preparing inaccurate tax filings from 2007 to 2013, Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas said.

James Lee, 63, of Long Beach, was arrested on Feb. 3 by investigators from the D.A.’s office and arraigned that day by Nassau County District Court Judge David McAndrews on two counts of second-degree grand larceny, one count of first-degree scheme to defraud and three counts of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing. McAndrews set Lee’s bail at $25,000 bond or $12,500 cash. If convicted of the top charge, he faces a maximum sentence of five to 15 years in prison.

“Taxpayers should be confident that those assisting them with their taxes are professional, honest and trustworthy,” Singas said. “Any tax preparer who makes false statements, submits false information or steals the tax refunds of others should know that my office will vigorously prosecute.”

According to Singas, Lee, a certified public accountant who owns L&L Accounting Services, on Grand Avenue in Baldwin, handled all of the taxes for a client’s three restaurants, including filings and payments. Paul Leonard, a spokesman for Singas, said that the restaurants are in Uniondale and Queens Village.

In 2013, the Internal Revenue Service and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance contacted Lee’s client about the under-reporting of sales and the underpayment of sales taxes. The client hired a new accountant, who discovered that the client’s tax returns had been calculated correctly, and that the client’s checks for taxes due had been cashed by Lee and deposited in his corporate account.

Upon learning of the audit of his businesses, the client confronted Lee, who issued a check to the client for $71,000 from another one of Lee’s corporate accounts, which bounced, according to Singas. The client again confronted Lee, and received three more checks totaling $39,574. Because of Lee’s prior conduct, the client did not cash those checks.

Last September 2014, the client’s new accountant referred the case to the D.A.’s office’s Criminal Complaint Unit. When investigators compared the client’s checks to Lee and the money received by NYSDTF from Lee, they discovered a discrepancy of more than $117,000. To date, neither the client nor NYSDTF has received any portion of the outstanding funds, Singas said.

“If these allegations are true, Lee betrayed his professional license and his client by filing false sales tax returns,” said Nonie Manion, executive deputy commissioner of the NYSDTF.

Lee is due back in court on March 25. His attorney, Jason Feinman, did not return a call seeking comment.