A judge benched a former supervisor of the recreational basketball program at Chelsea Piers yesterday for helping about 20 referees dodge $120,000 in federal income tax.
James Murray, of Yonkers, was sentenced to six months of house arrest and 200 hours of community service for his part in a scheme that used identity theft to help hide the refs’ pay from the IRS.
Manhattan federal Judge Barbara Jones said Murray avoided a trip to the slammer only because he didn’t personally profit from the scam, which ran from 1996 through 2008.
She also ordered him to help pay the government all the money it should have gotten, along with three referees who played key roles in the fraud.
According to the feds, the refs received up to $40 per game but conspired with Murray to be paid under fake names to avoid later paying income tax.
Under IRS rules, an employer has to report a worker’s income only if it exceeds $600 a year.
Ex-ref Robert Spence, of Bayside, Queens, and Gerard Fahy, of Yonkers, admitted stealing identities for the scheme while working as a youth baseball coach and a court reporter for the state Workers’ Compensation Board, respectively.
Both men pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
So is former ref — and scheme mastermind — Peter Iulo, of Brooklyn, who also admitted that he filed no tax returns for 2005 through 2008.