Hamptons contractor sentenced for scam involving undocumented workers

A well-known East End painting contractor who agreed to cooperate with federal authorities investigating his role in a tax-evasion scam involving undocumented workers, and then repeated the scam, has been sentenced to 3 years in prison, according to officials.

Arturo Quiros, owner of A. Quiros Painting & Stucco of Southampton Village, also was ordered by Judge Joseph F. Bianco in U.S. District Court in Central Islip to pay $889,971 in restitution and a fine of $104,490.

Quiros' attorney, Joseph Ferrante of Islandia, said Wednesday that he thought the sentence was too harsh and was considering an appeal.

Federal agents originally pegged Quiros in 2007 for avoiding payroll Hamptons contractor tax payments for 39 undocumented painters from Costa Rica, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Bonnie Klapper.

Quiros' scheme involved setting up phony subcontracting companies and claiming they were responsible for much of the payroll taxes, not his business, Klapper said.

Quiros filed a dozen false quarterly income tax returns between 2002 and 2005, understating the wages he paid employees at his Mariners Drive company. Internal Revenue Service tax returns for those years show Quiros said he paid $227,560 in payroll taxes on worker wages of $534,322; however, he actually paid wages of $3,918,236 and should have paid $885,000 in payroll taxes, court records said.

Quiros had agreed to cooperate with government investigators looking into similar practices by other painting contractors, Klapper said in court records. But agents discovered in January 2009 that he had resorted to his initial scheme, Klapper wrote.

Sources familiar with Quiros' financial situation said he had invested heavily in East End real estate and was losing money in the economic downturn. Quiros was jailed this past summer pending sentencing, according to officials.

The sentence came despite a letter of support from Southampton Village Mayor Mark Epley, who wrote that Quiros "has a solid reputation within the Southampton community as a family man" and does a good job maintaining his properties and business. Epley could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

With Joseph Mallia