IRS brings high-flying Scottsdale man to earth

Oct. 13—Jim Piccolo seemed to have rebounded from the crash of 2008 to live the high life in Scottsdale.

A 2017 Inc. magazine article — titled "How Entrepreneur Jim Piccolo Came Back from the Dead to Create a Multi-million Dollar Company" — focused on how he founded Tecademics, "the largest digital marketing education company in the country.

"In its first year alone, Tecademics generated tens of millions in revenue."

But, according to the IRS, the Scottsdale resident and entrepreneur consistently ignored paying taxes — withholding employee taxes and keeping the money.

Piccolo, 65, was sentenced Sept. 27 to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

He also was ordered to pay $651,478 in restitution to the IRS and a $10,000 fine for "failing to pay the IRS federal income taxes withheld from employees."

Piccolo co-founded Tecademics in 2016 and IQUP the following year in 2017. Both businesses taught clients how to manage online businesses, with an emphasis on marketing.

In his plea agreement, Piccolo admitted that he was responsible for submitting any tax payments to the IRS for both companies — but ignored his responsibilities.

"The conviction and sentencing of the defendant are the results of an effort by the Internal Revenue Service to vindicate the rights of honest business owners by holding scofflaws to account," said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino.

"Instead of following the law, Piccolo breached his employees' trust by failing to pay the taxes withheld on their behalf."

On Sept. 27, U.S. District Court of Arizona Judge James Teilborg ruled Piccolo must turn himself in and start serving his sentence by Jan. 2.

Last October, Piccolo entered a plea agreement.

According to court documents, a bookkeeper for the two companies prepared quarterly returns, which "reported employees' wages for each quarter as well as the portion of these wages withheld by the employer for state and federal taxes ... (Piccolo) knew that he was required to remit the taxes owed for the amounts reflected in the (quarterly) returns to the IRS.

"For the tax periods between January 2017 and April 2018, however, (Piccolo) did not remit the taxes owed by Tecademics and IQUP."

Sentencing was delayed several times this year.

In August, Jason Silver, Piccolo's Scottsdale attorney, filed paperwork objecting to two provisions in the pre-sentencing report.

Silver argued against the sentencing report saying Piccolo owed more than $200,000 in taxes for the years 2014 and 2016.

And Silver objected to the report including taxes owed in 2011 and 2012, as "Piccolo had a perforated colon in 2011 and was on heavy pain meds for over a year while he was recovering.

"The IRS must have sent notices to Mr. Piccolo, but he did not receive such notices and the IRS took a default with an assessment that followed ...Due to the seriousness of the medical issue, Mr. Piccolo was on advanced pain medication and could not and was ordered by his surgeon not to make business decisions."

The Inc. magazine feature on Piccolo quotes him saying he changed his views on life after those serious medical issues — which followed the financial crash of 2008 that "put him in survival mode."

"Prior to his health issues, Piccolo was chasing money," the story reported. "His goal was to be a billionaire. But, he says, 'I didn't lay in bed wanting more money. All my values changed, pretty much across the board.'

"These values became the driving force behind Piccolo's efforts to reinvent himself ... While he may not be exclusively focused on money any more, his career is rife with financial success:

"All told, he's created and acquired more than 40 companies which together have generated more than $1 billion in affiliate transactions and sales."

According to his LinkedIn profile, "Jim Piccolo has over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur. He has held positions including President and CEO of a privately-held, multinational manufacturing company and CEO of a publicly-traded international marketing company."

According to his profile Piccolo "founded the first ever real estate investment college in 2000. Throughout Mr. Piccolo's tenure, he successfully delivered over 165,000 students a unique educational experience."

It also says, "He is recognized as an exceptional and highly sought-after public speaker earning scores of awards from companies, trade organizations and charities worldwide."

Piccolo's profile describes him as the chairman and cofounder of Tecademics, "a school based out of Scottsdale that teaches classes on Internet Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Financial Literacy, both in-person and worldwide through our distance learning program."

He lists the lifespan of the company from March 2016 to March 2018.

Piccolo and Silver did not return requests to comment on his IRS case.