Man, whose wife stole millions from Pittsburgh firm, gets 18 months for false tax returns

A man who lived a life of luxury off of nearly $13 million his wife embezzled from her Pittsburgh employer over more than a decade will spend 18 months in federal prison.

Gary Mills, 61, was found guilty in 2019 of three counts of filing a false tax return following a nine-day jury trial. He was sentenced Monday by Senior U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer. He lived in DuBois and had ties to Allegheny County.

His wife, Cynthia A. Mills, pleaded guilty in 2017 to mail fraud, wire fraud, tax evasion and money laundering after taking $12.9 million from Matthews International, a monuments and engraving firm on Pittsburgh’s North Side from 1999 to 2015. She was ordered to serve eight years in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Cynthia Mills worked as a cashier for the company. She was able to steal money by cashing checks made out to Matthews or rerouting checks to a bank account for a bogus company she controlled.

Over the years of the theft, the government said, the couple used the money to buy three homes, eight cars, fur coats, jewelry, designer handbags and Penguins season tickets.

Gary Mills claimed not to know about the embezzlement and said he thought the money came from his wife’s gambling winnings.

He was charged with filing false tax returns for the years 2012-2014. During that time, the U.S. Attorney’s office said, Mills reported total taxable income of $306,856, but spent $2.7 million.

“For more than 15 years, the defendant enjoyed the spoils from his wife’s fraudulent windfall of millions of dollars,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum. “Yet, driven by greed, the defendant was unsatisfied that any of this windfall could be taxed and ensured that it would not be taxed.”

The government said that Mills ought to serve three years in prison, citing his repeated criminal behavior over a period of years.

“Moreover, the defendant refused to accept any responsibility for his actions,” they wrote.

However, Mills’ defense attorney suggested his sentence ought to be five years probation, including one year of house arrest.

A lesser sentence was appropriate, according to his sentencing memo, given the defendant’s age, lack of a criminal history and cooperation with selling properties he and his wife owned in Clearfield County, Dormont and Robinson, to go toward restitution and tax loss.