Owner of Medford Construction Company Sentenced for Tax Crimes and Making False Statements

BOSTON - A Quincy man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for a tax fraud scheme that resulted in a tax loss of approximately $2,824,577 and making false statements about a fatal workplace accident.

Mauricio Baiense, 57, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 18 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release and ordered to pay $2,824,577.45 in restitution to the United States. In April 2024, Baiense pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, seven counts of failure to collect and pay over taxes, one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return and one count of making false statements. In August 2022, Baiense was indicted by a federal grand jury.

Baiense owned and operated Contract Framing Builders, Inc. (CFB), a Medford-based construction business. Baiense was responsible for filing CFB's quarterly employment tax returns and collecting and paying IRS payroll taxes withheld from the wages of the company's employees. From approximately 2013 through 2017, Baiense facilitated having approximately $11 million worth of checks drawn on CFB's corporate bank account to purported subcontractors, which were in fact nominee entities controlled by him. Baiense then directed others to cash the checks at a check cashing business and used the money to operate an "off-the-books" cash payroll for CFB's employees. Baiense did not report the cash wages to the IRS and did not pay employment taxes on wages paid to employees in cash. Baiense also assisted in the preparation of at least one fraudulent employment tax return that understated the actual wages paid to CFB's employees.

When questioned under oath at a U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration interview regarding a fatal workplace accident pertaining to an employee of Baiense's company, Baiense made false statements to a federal investigator - falsely claiming that the deceased employee did not work for him.

United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Stuart M. Goldberg, Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Tax Division; Jeff Erskine, Acting Regional Administrator of the Department of Labor OSHA Region 1; Jonathan Wlodyka, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Jonathan Mellone, Special Agent in Charge of the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General in Boston made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the Department of Homeland Security, OSHA Criminal Investigations Team, Region 1 and the Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Tobin of the Major Crimes Unit and Trial Attorney Thomas F. Koelbl of the Justice Department's Tax Division prosecuted the case.