Long Island MSO Owner and Furniture Store Owner Admit to Stealing Tax Dollars

Brian Soltan, 62, of West Islip, New York, who owns a number of East Islip auto body businesses, and Gerald McCrystal, 51, of Dix Hills, New York, who owns furniture stores in Farmingdale, each pleaded guilty to grand larceny in separate cases for stealing sales tax money from New York State.

 

“The deliberate theft of tax dollars is a serious offense that undermines the integrity of our tax system and places an unfair burden on law-abiding citizens and businesses,” said District Attorney Tierney. “Both defendants collected sales tax from customers, fraudulently underreported taxable sales on dozens of returns, and then failed to remit that money to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.”

 

Soltan admitted during his guilty plea allocution that between January 2011 to November 2015, he failed to report approximately $2,817,951 in taxable sales from his auto body businesses, resulting in $244,799 in stolen sales taxes. His businesses include Long Island Auto Body, Inc., Long Island Auto Collision, Inc., Long Island Towing & Auto Body, Inc., Long Island Towing & Collision, Inc., East Islip’s Auto Collision, Inc., East Islip Collision, Inc., and High End Collision, Inc.

 

McCrystal, according to court documents and his own admissions during his guilty plea allocution, failed to report $8,979,157 in taxable sales from his Farmingdale-based businesses, including Levetz, Inc., Roma Fli Corporation, and Roma New York, Inc., resulting in $744,865 in stolen sales taxes.

 

Both defendants admitted to intentionally failing to remit funds collected on behalf of New York State.

 

Soltan pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Third Degree, a Class D felony, on September 18, 2019. As a condition of his plea, Soltan was required to pay $250,000 in restitution prior to his sentencing on June 26, 2024. McCrystal pleaded guilty to Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony, on June 26, 2024, and was sentenced immediately thereafter. As a condition of his plea, McCrystal was required to pay $745,000 in restitution.

 

These cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Sacks of the Financial Crimes Bureau. The investigation on Soltan’s case was conducted by Senior Detective Investigator George Bean of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance assisted in both cases.