Crime & Safety

Port Chester Professor, 3 Others Charged with Tax Evasion

All four suspects were arrested earlier this week.

A college professor from Port Chester, a Rye couple who own an infomercial business and a former real estate executive have been charged with tax evasion for failing to pay a combined $275,000 in personal income tax to the state.

The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office has charged Andrew Summa, 65, a professor at the Graduate Institute, Inc. and the Learning Collaborative, Inc., with two counts each of failing to file personal income tax returns and fifth degree tax fraud.

Summa is accused of failing to pay personal income taxes from 2004-2007 and in 2008 and 2009 on a salary that ranged between $79,000 and $163,000. Since being notified this year that he was the subject of a criminal investigation by state tax authorities, Summa has filed personal income tax forms from previous years and has paid $12,044 in tax liabilities. 

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He is scheduled to appear in Port Chester Village Court on April 7 to face the charges.

Authorities also have charged Rye couple Charles and Christine Principato with multiple counts of tax fraud and failure to file personal income tax returns.

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Mr. Principato, 49, is accused of not filing his wife’s tax returns from 2004-2008 when he was acting as her power of attorney. He also is accused of not filing his 2008 personal income taxes and is charged with one count of third degree tax fraud, two counts of failing to file personal income tax returns and one count of fifth degree tax fraud. 

Mrs. Principato, 33, did file a state personal income tax return in 2009 showing she earned $324, 583. However, she still owes more than $24,000 to the state. She is being charged with two counts each of third degree tax fraud and failure to file personal income tax returns. 

The couple is scheduled to appear in Harrison Town Court on March 29.

Leslie Thompson, a former New York City real estate executive from Mount Vernon, is charged with two counts of third degree tax fraud and one count of failing to file personal income tax returns when she earned between $292,000 and $900,000. Authorities said Thompson did not file tax returns from 2005-2007, was late in filing her 2008 and 2009 tax returns and underestimated her tax liability during those years. 

She is scheduled to appear in Mount Vernon City Court on April 21. 

The four arrests are the result of an ongoing statewide tax fraud initiative known as Project Non-Filer. If convicted, the defendants could face anywhere between four and seven years in state prison. 


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