River Birch's Dominick Fazzio and alleged co-conspirator Mark Titus ...

River Birch landfill executive Dominick Fazzio and his wife, Rebecca, leave the Hale Boggs Federal Building on Nov. 9, 2011. Fazzio and his brother-in-law, Mark Titus, are due back in cout today to be arraigned on new charges. (Photo by The Times-Picayune archive)

The 27-page indictment filed Thursday slapped Fazzio with 30 criminal counts that included tax evasion, conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering

River Birch landfill executive Dominick Fazzio and his brother-in-law, Mark Titus, are expected to plead not guilty to recent tax evasion and fraud charges at court appearances set for Tuesday afternoon.

Both Fazzio and Titus, who last year were charged in an alleged fraud scheme, were hit with new accusations in a superseding indictment filed Thursday. Their arraignment on the new charges, at which they can enter an initial plea, is set for 1 p.m. in U.S. Magistrate Judge Alma Chasez' courtroom.

The 27-page indictment filed Thursday slapped Fazzio with 30 criminal counts that included tax evasion, conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering. Prosecutors allege that Fazzio conspired with business owner Hank Ton to pay employees in Ton's companies under the table and reduce the firms' payroll-tax obligation. The indictment said the scheme defrauded the government of about $3.6 million in taxes. Prosecutors named Ton as a co-conspirator in the indictment, but didn't file charges against him. Sources last week confirmed Ton is negotiating a plea deal to cooperate with the government and will face relatively minor charges as soon as this week.

Fazzio's attorney, Arthur "Buddy" Lemann, said Monday his client will plead not guilty at his arraignment. Lemann has said Fazzio prepared tax filings for Ton's businesses using information Ton provided. If there was anything illegal, Lemann has said, it was Ton's doing.

For his part, Titus will find himself back in court less than a week after he was sentenced to five years for his role in a scheme to embezzle more than $1 million from Garner Services, a firm he co-owns. The five-year sentence came as part of a plea deal in which Titus admitted to conspiracy to commit mail fraud. But last week's indictment added more than a dozen new charges against Titus related to the Garner scheme, including wire and mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Titus' attorney, Jimmy Ardoin, said last week his client will plead not guilty at his new arraignment.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/river_birchs_dominick_fazzio_a.html

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