A 48-year old Port Charlotte man will spend five years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to commit tax and bank fraud. 48-year old Casey Padula pled guilty to the charges back in March. Prosecutors say Padula more around $2.5M from his business to offshore accounts in Belize, used the money to pay for personal expenses and personal items, then disguised them as business expenses on his tax returns. He also opened a $1M investment fund with a firm in the Caymans- and never reported it to the IRS. The feds say Padula also conspired with another man to cheat Bank of America out of more than a half million dollars by saying he couldn’t pay for his $1.5M home in Port Charlotte…only to transfer money to fund a short sale…and get ownership back for $1.
