Former CEO sentenced to 1 year, 1 day in tax Bell Acres mansion tax fraud scheme

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A former Pittsburgh CEO accused of writing off the construction of his Bell Acres mansion as a business expense was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. 

A judge sentenced former Automated Health Systems CEO and president Joseph Nocito on Monday, also giving him three years of supervised release and telling him to pay $15.8 million in restitution. Nocito pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States last year. 

Between 2006 and 2012, Nocito illegally classified millions of dollars of personal expenses as deductible business expenses and financed the construction of a $30 million, 51,000-square-foot mansion called "Villa Nocci," the Department of Justice said. The falsified expenses allegedly included construction costs; an outdoor pool and pool house; tennis, basketball and bocce courts; and design and furnishings. 

Prosecutors said he also fraudulently expensed millions of dollars for other personal expenses like luxury vehicles, artwork, country club memberships, homes for his children and private school tuition for his grandchildren. 

He's also accused of "shuffling" millions of dollars of income through other entities in fake transactions designed to hide Automated Health Systems' true income and tax liability, the Department of Justice said. 

"The defendant diverted millions of dollars that should've gone to the IRS and used it to build a 51,000 square foot mansion in the Pittsburgh suburbs, amounting to the largest tax fraud ever perpetrated in our District," U.S. District Attorney Eric Olshan said in a news release. "This crime is an affront to every hardworking, tax-paying individual in this country. We commend our partners with IRS Criminal Investigation and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their thorough and tireless efforts to hold this defendant accountable for his egregious conduct."