Stephen L. Hochberg, a former Massachusetts real estate executive was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years supervised release, for his role in a multi-year scheme to cheat the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with under-the-table pay of more than $1.6 million in compensation and fringe benefits, all while lying to the US Attorney’s Office about his income to avoid paying restitution he owed to victims of an earlier fraud scheme.
Beginning around 2014, Hochberg and Charles D. Katz, the owner of both the CD Katz LLC accounting firm and Gebsco Realty Corporation, conspired to cheat the IRS. They agreed that Hochberg, who served as the director of corporate services at Katz’s accounting firm and as chief operating officer at Katz’s real estate firm, would be paid significant compensation off the books so that Hochberg would have tax-free income and so that Katz’s firms would owe less employment taxes.
Over the following years, Katz paid Hochberg’s family, provided rent-free housing to Hochberg’s ex-wife, paid college tuition for his children and paid personal expenses that Hochberg and his ex-wife charged on corporate credit cards. In total, Katz paid Hochberg at least $1.6 million in unreported income and avoided taxes of at least $835,105.
In 2008, Hochberg was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud and nine counts of securities fraud, for which he was sentenced to more than five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1.79 million to his victims. In addition to his and Katz’s tax scheme, Hochberg lied to the US Attorney’s Office about his income from Katz’s firms and obstructed the collection of restitution Hochberg owed to victims.
Hochberg was charged in December and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the US and to obstruction of justice in January. In addition to his prison sentence, he is ordered to pay $2.8 million in restitution to the IRS, the Massachusetts state government, and the victims of his prior financial crimes.
Katz was charged and agreed to plead guilty in October 2025. He has a sentencing hearing scheduled for April 29.
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