Former Nassau County Legislator Roger Corbin Sentenced to 18 Months Following Convictions for Filing False Tax Returns, Tax Evasion, and Making False Statements
Former Legislator Failed to Report Income from Developer

Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York, Roger Corbin, a former Nassau County Legislator who represented the Second Legislative District from 1995 until December 31, 2009, was sentenced to 18 months of incarceration by United States District Judge Sandra J. Feuerstein. Corbin pleaded guilty earlier this year to all seven counts of a superseding indictment, which charged him with tax evasion and filing false federal tax returns for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007, and making false statements to special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service. Judge Feuerstein also imposed three years of supervised release, a $700 special assessment and ordered Corbin to pay $92,170 in restitution.

Corbin’s sentence was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, George C. Venizelos, Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, and Charles R. Pine, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, New York.

While serving as a Nassau County legislator, Corbin received more than 80 checks, totaling more than $229,000, from a developer who was doing business in Corbin’s district. Corbin deposited those checks, which were all made payable to “Cash,” into his personal bank accounts and used the money to support his lifestyle, but did not report any of the money as income on his original 2005, 2006, and 2007 federal income tax returns and did not pay any taxes on that income. Moreover, when he was interviewed by special agents of the FBI and IRS on November 20, 2008, Corbin falsely denied using any of the money from the developer for his personal benefit and claimed that he had given the money to an individual who was purportedly paying workers at the developer’s New Cassel construction sites. Subsequent investigation determined that the individual to whom Corbin claimed to have given the money died on November 9, 2005, and that Corbin received and deposited 73 of the checks, totaling approximately $206,500, after the death of that individual. In an April 2009 interview with federal prosecutors and agents, Corbin admitted that he used significant portions of the money derived from the developer’s checks for his own personal benefit and that he did not report that income on his federal tax returns in 2005, 2006, or 2007. Corbin further admitted that he made false statements to the agents during the November 20, 2008, interview.

The government’s case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys John J. Durham, Carrie N. Capwell, and Richard P. Donoghue.

The Defendant:

ROGER CORBIN
Age: 63