MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A former financial controller for the company that operates the SS Badger was sentenced for embezzling.
Paul Patrick Piper, 58, of Ludington, Michigan, was sentenced to more than five years in prison on charges of bank fraud and filing a false federal income tax return.
Prosecutors say Piper embezzled more than $1.7 million between 2007 and May 2018, by overriding normal company accounting systems and writing checks directly to himself and to two of his affiliated businesses, Piper Tax & Accounting and Piper Group.
Officials also say Piper filed false personal income tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service because he knowingly failed to include the income he stole from the Lake Michigan Carferry company, and other income earned from his tax business, on his federal income tax returns.
