NEW YORK – A former comptroller of the College of New Rochelle was sentenced to three years in federal prison for failing to pay more than $20 million in payroll taxes and for securities fraud.
Keith Borge, 63, of Valley Cottage, pled guilty to both charges in March. US District Judge Vincent Briccetti imposed the sentence on Wednesday.
According to court documents, from 2011 to August 2014, Borge was the vice president for financial affairs at the College of New Rochelle, a private college with a main campus in New Rochelle. From August 2014 to June 2016, he was comptroller.
Depending upon the time of year, the school employed between 500 and 900 people on staff. The college withheld both federal income tax and the employees’ contributions to Social Security and Medicare. Federal law requires the college pay over those taxes and contributions within one week of the day it paid its employees. During that one-week period, the college held those funds in trust for the federal government.
As comptroller, Borge managed the college’s financial affairs and was responsible for paying over withheld payroll taxes and contributions. From the third quarter of 2014 through the second quarter of 2016, he failed to do so. By the end of the second quarter of 2016, Borge had failed to pay over more than $20 million in combined federal and state payroll taxes and contributions.
Borge also made false entries into the college’s books and records to conceal the actual financial condition of the school. As a result, the College of New Rochelle’s financial statements for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 reported the school had net assets of $25 million, which was overstated by at least $24 million.
In addition to the prison sentence, Borge was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a fine of $25,000.
