Carnegie construction company owner sentenced for fraud

Robert Seth said his mental health problems kept him from working and he collected government benefits as a result, but all the while he was running a construction company and two other businesses without telling anyone — or paying his taxes.

On Friday, he went to federal prison for his lies.

U.S. District Judge Mark Hornak imposed a term of nine months and ordered him to pay $422,000 in restitution to the government.

Seth, 58, of Pittsburgh, ripped off Social Security for benefits to which he was not entitled and also filed false tax returns or in some cases no tax returns.

Seth filed a false individual return for 2013 by failing to report income from his contracting company, RAS and Sons in Carnegie. He also accepted responsibility for filing a false return for 2012, not filing any returns for additional years, and no corporate returns for 2008 for RAS.

Judge Hornak’s sentence required him to pay $173,390 to the IRS.

From 2009 to 2017, Seth also collected Social Security disability benefits for himself and his child totaling $248,145.

Prosecutors said he didn’t report that he was working as the owner of RAS. The judge ordered him to repay that money.

U.S. Attorney Scott Brady said Seth committed “an elaborate double fraud” on two government agencies and stole from U.S. taxpayers as a result.

Prosecutors said that while Seth was claiming to be disabled, he ran the construction business as well as Max’s Place, a North Side bar, and a limousine service. He also managed several rental properties.

His lawyer, Robert Leight, asked for a downward departure from sentencing guidelines and requested home detention, saying his client wanted to become a productive member of society. He said prison would serve no purpose beyond the punitive.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Eberle said he deserves prison.

“His criminal conduct was not confined to one isolated act at one particular point in time,” he said. “Instead, the defendant’s behavior involved fraud and deceit over a period of many years, all in the name of greed.”