Two CT doctors with Port Chester office plead guilty to evading $1.2M in income taxes

Two doctors with an office in Port Chester accused of evading $1.2 million in personal income taxes were tripped up by their own meticulous records.

Federal agents found those records ”“ six years’ worth of daily logs of corporate receipts ”“ when they searched the Ridgefield, Connecticut, home of Dr. Angel B. Polimeni and his wife, Aline Polimeni.

Based on those logs, U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss charged Angel Polimeni and Dr. Jaime Rivas of Stamford with tax evasion in criminal complaints filed Aug. 11 in U.S. District Court, White Plains. Aline Polimeni, their bookkeeper, was accused of failure to file tax returns and pay taxes.

All three pleaded guilty to Magistrate Judge Paul E. Davison and were released from custody on posting $100,000 personal recognizance bonds.

The doctors worked at the same office on Westchester Avenue in Port Chester, but they structured their medical practices as separate corporations. That allowed them to bypass corporate taxes but required them to include the corporate income on their personal income tax returns.

Their patients paid primarily with cash, according to the criminal complaints, and from 2012 to 2017 the doctors left out substantial portions of those payments on their tax forms.

Angel Polimeni claimed $5.6 million in corporate receipts, according to the government, but actually took in $9.5 million, thus underreporting revenues by nearly 41%.

He declared $730,883 in taxes owed on his personal tax return, the government says, but actually owed more than $1.5 million, thus evading more than $800,000 or 52%.

Rivas reported corporate receipts of about $937,000 but allegedly took in more than $2.2 million, thus underreporting revenues by 58%.

He declared $112,007 in personal income taxes, according to the complaint, but actually owed $548,881, thus evading nearly 80% of his tax obligation.

Collectively, the doctors underreported corporate revenues by nearly $5.2 million; underreported personal taxable incomes by more than $3.7 million; and evaded $1,236,918 in taxes.

Polimeni was trained at the National University of Cordoba, Argentina, according to the state Office of the Professions, and has been licensed in New York since 1987. He practices internal medicine.

Rivas was trained at Guadalajara Autonomous University in Mexico and has been licensed in New York since 1998. He practices family medicine.