The owner and general manager of a Palm Desert swimming pool construction and maintenance company faces criminal charges for alleged misconduct while running the company, the Riverside County district attorney’s office announced Friday.
Hemet resident Michael Gregory Silverberg, 31, owner of United States Pools Corp., is accused of defrauding the State Compensation Insurance Fund, two insurance companies and the state Board of Equalization.. Silverberg faces two counts of falsifying statements to reduce worker’s compensation insurance rates, one count of falsifying workers’ compensation and one count of failing to collect taxes, all felonies, and a misdemeanor charge of signing a report to evade an amount due. He also faces a sentence-enhancing allegation of taking more than $500,000 through the commission of two or more white-collar crimes.
Silverberg was arrested on Jan. 21 and pleaded not guilty on Jan. 25 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. He is due back in court on Feb. 26. If convicted, he faces up to 16 years in prison, according to District Attorney’s Office spokesman John Hall.
The Inland Empire Premium Fraud Task Force started investigating Silverberg after a complaint was made about him by a trade organization serving the California swimming pool industry, Hall said.
Silverberg allegedly reported his pool cleaning employees as independent contractors to avoid paying the appropriate payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance premiums. He also allegedly failed to report his new pool construction employees on his workers’ compensation policy, Hall said. In addition, the investigation revealed that Silverberg allegedly failed to properly report the required sales tax due to the state Board of Equalization on an account with a local pool contractor supplier, Hall said.
The alleged fraudulent actions resulted in a loss of about $566,950 to the various agencies between Jan. 1, 2007, and March 5, 2012, Hall said.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Michael Mayman.The Inland Empire Premium Fraud Task Force includes investigators from the Riverside and San Bernardino county district attorney’s offices and the California Department of Insurance’s fraud division.