United States of America v. Stephen L. Hochberg

Boston, Massachusetts, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and to obstruction of justice.

Stephen Hochberg, age 77, of Marlborough, and Charles D. Katz agreed in as early as 2014 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 – CD Katz LLC and Gebsco Realty Corporation – would owe less employment taxes. Over time, 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.

All told, Katz paid Hochberg at least $1,668,487 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 $1,791,500 to his victims. In addition to his and Katz’s tax scheme, Hochberg lied to the U.S. Attorney’s Office about his income from Katz’s firms and obstructed the collection of restitution Hochberg owed to victims.

Katz was charged and agreed to plead guilty in October 2025. The Court accepted his plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for Feb. 2, 2026.

The charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of obstruction of justice provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, restitution and forfeiture. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Head, Chief of the Asset Recovery Unit is prosecuting the case.

The Defendant elected to plead guilt.