MONTRÉAL, June 10, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announces that Alain Côté, of accounting firm ACGI Inc., from Lachute, and Salvatore Leo, administrator for Les aliments spécialisés Impresa international Inc. (Impresa), based in Montréal-Nord, were sentenced for fraud at the Montreal Courthouse. Mr. Côté pleaded guilty on March 26, 2021, and was sentenced on June 8, 2022, to a 20-month conditional prison sentence and 240 hours of community service, in addition to being fined $50,000. Mr. Leo pleaded guilty on June 8, 2022, for the same scheme and he was sentenced to a conditional 15 months in prison. Mr. Leo also paid a $421,360 fine, equivalent to the full amount of the tax credits received illegally.
The CRA investigation showed that Alain Côté was using the identity of clients of his accounting firm, ACGI inc., to create false invoices for the benefit of Impresa, managed by Salvatore Leo. This scheme allowed Impresa to receive $421,360 in fraudulent Investment tax credits for the 2008 to 2011 tax years in the Scientific Research and Experimental Development Tax Incentive Program.
All case-specific information above was obtained from the court records.
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