Trio Charged with WC Fraud and Tax Evasion

Benito Storniolo, 44, Laura Storniolo, 40, and Angelo Cardarelli, 37, all of San Francisco, were arrested for workers’ compensation premium fraud and tax evasion as the result of an investigation by the California Department of Insurance (CDI) Criminal Investigations
Branch’s Fraud Division and the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB).

According to investigators, the Storniolos and Cardarelli jointly owned and operated Benvenuti Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant. They allegedly under-reported their payroll to the Employment Development Department (EDD) by approximately $2,250,000, in additionally
to allegedly provided false payroll information to their insurance carrier, State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), in an effort to obtain cheaper workers’ comp insurance premiums. By under-reporting employee payroll, it is estimated that SCIF was defrauded out of $103,500 in premiums.

The trio will be charged with filing a false income tax return signed under penalty of perjury for their 1997-1999 tax years. Also, each will be charged with tax evasion for their 1996-1999 tax years. In addition, Laura Storniolo, as president and signer of the corporate tax returns, will be charged for failure to report all the corporate income and tax evasion for the 1996-1999 tax years.

Topics Fraud