Peabody builder sentenced for tax and workers' compensation fraud [The Salem News, Beverly, Mass.]

Mar. 24—BOSTON — The former owner of a Peabody construction company was sentenced yesterday in connection with a scheme to defraud the IRS of payroll taxes and to defraud his workers' compensation insurance carrier by failing to report how many workers he employed.

Argyrios "Eric" Mavros, 57, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 18 months in prison and 18 months of supervised release.

He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,007,760 to the IRS and $158,524 to his workers' compensation carrier.

On Nov. 1. 2021, Mavros pleaded guilty to 10 counts of failure to collect or pay over taxes and one count of mail fraud.

Mavros, who owned Mavros Construction, Inc., cashed more than $3.3 million in customer checks at a Peabody check cashing business and used some of those funds to pay his employees in cash.

He failed to report these employees or their wages in quarterly tax filings, in an effort to avoid paying Social Security and Medicare taxes on employee wages and withholding federal income taxes.

Overall, Mavros failed to pay and withhold federal taxes on more than $2.5 million in wages, resulting in a tax loss of more than $1 million.

Additionally, he failed to report these employees to his workers' compensation insurance carrier, thereby defrauding the insurer of more than $150,000 in premiums.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney prosecuted the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Insurance Fraud Bureau of Massachusetts.

U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Joleen D. Simpson, Special Agent in Charge of the IRS's Criminal Investigation unit in Boston made the announcement.

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