Defendant: Steve Sabba (DOB 10/05/57)

Aug. 2, 2018 -- Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. and Acting New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Nonie Manion announced that Steve Sabba of Yorktown Heights, New York was charged in an eight-count indictment with tax fraud and related crimes following an investigation by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office. Sabba and his company TaxPro Financial Network, Inc. were arraigned Monday in Westchester County Court before Judge Anne Minihan.

Sabba was indicted on the following charges handed up by a Westchester Grand Jury earlier this month:

1. Scheme to Defraud in the First Degree, a class E felony
2. Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree, a class D felony
3. Identity Theft in the First Degree--obtain goods worth more than $2,000, a class D felony
4. Identity Theft in the First Degree--to commit or attempt to commit a felony, a class D felony
5. Identity Theft in the Second Degree--obtain goods worth more than $500, a class E felony
6. Identity Theft in the Second Degree--to commit or attempt to commit a felony, a class E felony
7. Criminal Tax Fraud in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony
8. Offering a False Instrument for Filing in the Fourth Degree, a class E felony

TaxPro Financial Network, Inc. was named in one count: Criminal Tax Fraud in the Third Degree, a class D felony.

The indictment alleges that Steve Sabba defrauded New York State from February 2012 to March 2018 by engaging “in a scheme constituting a systematic ongoing course of conduct.” Sabba sold a tax preparation business in 2009. Sabba failed to have the corporation, which received installment payments from that sale, reported the income in the corresponding years. In addition, he concealed taxable income paid to him by clients and stole personal identifying information from others to obtain credit cards and charge his personal expenses to those cards. He used corporate accounts to pay the bills on the fraudulent cards. In this way, Sabba did not report to the authorities the income he used to pay those bills and did not pay taxes on that income, thereby falsifying his own tax return.

On March 8, 2016, New York State Department of Taxation and Finance investigators, along with investigators from the Westchester DA’s Office, arrested Steve Sabba on a felony complaint.

Sabba is next scheduled to appear in Westchester County Court Aug. 21, 2018. The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office Investigations Division Economic Crimes Bureau is prosecuting the case. 

Sabba was previously convicted of tax fraud. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to filing a false state personal income tax return. As part of his agreement, Sabba agreed to dissolve his business, TaxPro Financial Network, Inc. and no longer electronically file tax returns under personal identification numbers that he previously obtained or used.  

Acting New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance Manion said: “The flagrant nature of the scheme alleged in this indictment—a deliberate attempt to conceal income and use the stolen identities of unsuspecting clients for personal gain—is especially disturbing given the defendant’s previous conviction for tax fraud. I thank District Attorney Scarpino for his prosecution of this case.”

District Attorney Scarpino said: “Anyone who steals money from the State of New York, steals money from all of us. We are proud of our collaboration with New York State Department of Taxation and Finance in bringing to light this serious ongoing tax fraud and we will prosecute the perpetrator to the fullest to see justice done for the residents of Westchester and New York State.”

 In compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.6, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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