A Queens used car dealer who owes the IRS around $2.7 million was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison for his money laundering schemes.
Chris Orsaris, 41, committed such frauds as falsely reporting his yacht stolen to cash in on the insurance claim, the New York Daily News reported.
Called the "playboy used car dealer," Orsaris paid cash for properties including a $5.5 million Trump World Tower apartment, a $3 million Hamptons home and a $2 million Miami condo, according to the New York Post.
"He made more money than was imaginable and then he made some bad decisions," said defense lawyer Joseph Conway, as quoted by the NY Daily News.
Orsaris started out as an 18-year-old salesman at Major World Automotive in Long Island City. Less than eight years later, he was a general manager at one of the largest used car dealerships in the country.
Court papers reveal that after Orsaris found success, he started coming up with schemes to keep the money away from the IRS, which is how he came to owe the agency millions.
Saying Orsaris "thrived on living the sordid lifestyle of a wannabe criminal," federal prosecutors listed his deceptions including the inflation of Major World Automotive paperwork and his claim that his $860,000 boat named "B Low Me" was stolen.
The fraudulent dealer, who was known for his decadent lifestyle, has been ordered by Judge Leonard Wexler to forfeit the luxurious properties he purchased in cash and pay more than $13.8 million to his employer. Osaris additionally owes the $2.7 million to the IRS and $500,000 to the insurance company for lying about the stolen yacht.
Orsaris, who has been in prison since he was arrested four years ago, had been hoping to get time served.
"He has done things wrong, he has admitted to them, and he has done his best to make this situation right," Orsaris' lawyers from the firm of Benjamin Brafman unsuccessfully argued in a court filing.
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