BOSTON – A Nahant woman and Winthrop man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to conspiring to commit wire fraud and tax evasion.
Gary P. DeCicco, 65, and Pamela M. Avedisian, 61, each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled DeCicco’s sentencing for Sept. 18, 2024; Avedisian’s sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. DeCicco and Avedisian were indicted by a federal grand jury in January 2018.
Between April 2012 and February 2013, DeCicco repeatedly told the IRS that he did not have the ability to pay his over $340,000 tax liability and that he had very little cash, no vehicles or real property and no ownership interest in any asset with a positive value. However, DeCicco had ownership interests in several businesses, vehicles and real properties titled in his name and the names of Avedisian, Lynnway Auto Sales Inc., and other entities, in order to conceal those assets from the IRS during that time period. In addition, beginning in March 2013, after the IRS accepted DeCicco’s proposed monthly payment plan (based on the false information DeCicco provided about his assets and income), DeCicco bought and sold numerous real properties, boats and high-end cars and concealed those assets and his income from the IRS, often with Avedisian’s assistance.
In addition, Avedisian owned a property in Nahant that was subject to a mortgage in excess of $1 million. In October 2015, DeCicco and Avedisian conspired to defraud the mortgage holder by proposing the sale of the property for significantly less than the outstanding mortgage, in what is commonly referred to as a “short sale.” By their very nature, short sales are intended to be arms-length transactions in which the buyers and sellers are unrelated and act independently, allowing sellers to cede their ownership of the property in exchange for the short-selling bank’s agreement to release them from their unpaid mortgage debt. In order to get approval for the sale, DeCicco and Avedisian concealed their long-term romantic and business relationships from the loan servicing company and falsely represented that Avedisian could no longer make payments towards the mortgage on the property. In fact, just two months before the “short sale” closed, Avedisian purportedly received $3.5 million from the sale of another asset to DeCicco.
The conspiracy charges each provide for up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division; and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kristina E. Barclay and Neil J. Gallagher, Jr. of the Public Corruption & Special Prosecutions Unit are prosecuting the case.
