A Texas man, Peter Joseph Tignini, has been sentenced to federal prison for evading taxes by not reporting income earned while working overseas. Tignini pleaded guilty on August 21, 2023.
U.S. District Judge George C. Hanks has ordered Tignini to serve 41 months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine, and provide $1,169,348.60 in restitution to the United States.
Court records reveal that from 2013 to 2018, Tignini worked in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, earning over $4,750,000 in income. Despite this, he filed false returns for tax years 2013 through 2017, claiming an income of only approximately $100,000 each year. Tignini's reported income was near or below the amount U.S. citizens living and working abroad for most of a year can exclude from their taxable income.
Tignini failed to file a return for 2018, causing a tax loss of $1,169,348 to the IRS. After an interview with federal law enforcement, Tignini altered his employment contract and payroll documents to shift responsibility to his former employer for failing to report income and pay taxes. False documents were then provided to the Department of Justice’s Tax Division and the IRS by Tignini's attorneys. When investigators questioned a witness about the online program Tignini used to create the false documents, Tignini attempted to delete them from his account.
The investigation was conducted by the IRS Criminal Investigation.
