WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach Gardens man has been indicted on charges of willfully failing to pay more than $6 million in employment taxes with his Palm Beach County health care companies and not filing individual income tax returns for three years, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday in Miami.
Paul Walczak owned multiple health care companies, including NuVista Care Communities, Palm Health Partners and PHP Employment Services from 2009-2019, according to the indictment.
Walczak from 2016-19 did not pay to the IRS withholdings, including federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from his employees’ wages.
In 2019, KR Management took over NuVista Living, a rehab and senior living facility now known as The Addington at Wellington Green.
NuVista Living was the subject of a Palm Beach Post investigation about employees experiencing late paychecks and bounced checks. In February 2019, U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks ordered NuVista's parent company, Chatsworth at Wellington Green, to pay $8.9 million in back rent, late charges and taxes.
According to the indictment, Walczak received a gross annual salary of at least $360,000 from the health care companies as well as alleged significant wire transfers from his companies, according to the indictment.
Rather than pay the withheld funds to the IRS, Walczak used the money to invest in his businesses, purchase a yacht, lease luxury vehicles and charter private international flights, according to the indictment.
Walczak also did not file personal income tax returns for 2018, 2019 and 2020, according to prosecutors.
If convicted, Walczak faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each employment tax count and one year for each failure to file a tax return count.
He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.