North Hills Man Sentenced for Defrauding First Niagara Bank and Evading Taxes

PITTSBURGH—An Allegheny County man was sentenced today in federal court to three days’ imprisonment, five years’ supervised release with six months home detention, and restitution of $226,846 on his convictions of bank fraud and tax evasion, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

United States District Judge Terrence F. McVerry imposed sentence upon Kevin R. Gallagher.

According to information presented to the court, from November 2010 and continuing until January 2012, Gallagher knowingly executed a scheme to defraud First Niagara Bank. In connection with the scheme to defraud, Gallagher fraudulently obtained corporate checks of his employer, A&S Steel Buildings Corporation, made payable to subcontractors and forged the signatures of the subcontractor payees. It was a part of the scheme that Gallagher deposited the forged checks, which totaled $179,695, into his personal bank account at First Niagara Bank. Gallagher also willfully evaded income tax owed by him for tax year 2011. The total amount of tax loss to the federal government as a result of Gallagher’s tax evasion is $53,151.

Assistant United States Attorney Mary McKeen Houghton prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

U.S. Attorney Hickton commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Internal Revenue Service- Criminal Investigation for the investigation that led to the successful prosecution of Gallagher.