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	Willoughby Hills Accountant Found Guilty of Helping Defraud Diocese Anton Zgoznik Facing up to 20 Years in Prison News-Herald October 3, 2007 http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18877691&BRD=1698&PAG=461&dept_id=21849&rfi=6 After nearly three days of deliberations, a federal jury found a Kirtland Hills man guilty Tuesday of helping to defraud the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland. Anton Zgoznik, a 40-year-old former diocese accountant, had been on trial since Aug. 20 for taking church money in a kickback scheme. Zgoznik is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 20 by U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich in Cleveland. He was found guilty on all 15 counts of mail fraud, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service, and aiding and assisting preparation of false corporate income tax documents and returns. His co-defendant, 50-year-old Joseph Smith of Avon, will be tried on 23 similar charges at a later date. Smith, former chief financial officer for the diocese, is accused of accepting $270,000 above his regular salary, in addition to the kickbacks. Zgoznik was paid more than $17.5 million by the diocese over five years before resigning to open an accounting business. More than $784,000 of that money was then kicked back to Smith, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Siegel said. The men were able to get away with the scheme for so long because Zgoznik submitted hundreds of small invoices to different diocese offices, said Siegel. Zgoznik's attorney, Robert Rotatari, argued that church officials destroyed and hid evidence that would have helped prove his client's innocence. Zgoznik faces up to 20 years in prison on the most serious counts, but will likely receive less time under federal sentencing guidelines.
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