New Jersey Businessman Sentenced for Tax and Fraud Charges

PHILADELPHIA—Mark Olkowski, 62, of North Wildwood, New Jersey, was sentenced today to three months in prison for filing false personal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service from 2006 through 2009 and wire fraud. Olkowski, a business partner in K&O Sporting Goods on Moyamensing Avenue in Philadelphia, pleaded guilty on April 24, 2013, to the tax charges and to 15 counts of wire fraud committed upon the Pennsylvania State Unemployment Compensation system. K&O is a distributor of T-shirts and other clothing items to labor unions, municipalities, and political candidates.

Between 2006 through 2009, Olkowski failed to report a total of approximately $148,000 of income to the IRS. The unreported income included significant sums of cash received by K&O but which Olkowski pocketed and did not deposit to K&O business accounts. It also included income he received from making personal expenditures using corporate credit cards. The tax loss on this unreported income is approximately $25,000.

Olkowski made two false applications for unemployment compensation benefits. In his applications, Olkowski falsely claimed to have been laid off from K&O and did not tell unemployment compensation authorities that he was an owner of K&O Sporting Goods and that he was receiving income from K&O while he was applying for unemployment benefits. The loss to the unemployment compensation system is approximately $16,000.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Harvey Bartle, III ordered Olkowski to pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $56,459, which he has paid, and to the Pennsylvania State Unemployment Compensation system in the amount of $16,046, a fine of $15,000, a $1,900 special assessment, and two years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Paul L. Gray.