Stillwater building contractor pleads guilty in tax fraud case

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office (RCAO) has announced that a Stillwater building contractor has pleaded guilty in a tax fraud case. Todd Konigson, a masonry contractor who owns the business Stillwater Masonry Restoration Inc., kept employee withholding and failed to report income.

“This resolution is the culmination of a multi-agency cooperative investigation and prosecution effort to hold this business owner accountable for the promises he made to his employees as well as to the State of Minnesota,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a news release.

Choi’s office became one of the first county attorney’s offices in Minnesota to hire a full-time wage theft investigator that prioritized crimes like these. It launched an investigation after receiving reports that Stillwater Masonry was failing to timely pay wages to its employees, as well as not fulfilling contractual obligations to small businesses, churches, and nonprofit organizations in the Twin Cities area.

The investigation arose out of work the business performed on St. Paul’s historic Masonic Temple. Subsequently, the office filed a criminal complaint against Konigson.

The RCAO was joined by the state Revenue Department to investigate tax issues related to the operation of Konigson’s business. It discovered that Konigson failed to timely report at least $2.5 million in income from tax periods from 2017 through 2022. Revenue also found that Konigson did not report close to half a million dollars in wages paid to employees for withholding tax purposes. It estimated that accrued a tax liability of at least $106,903.72.

Konigson pleaded guilty to one count of failure to report taxes and related wages owed by his business. He received a felony sentence of three years’ probation.

In addition, Konigson must forfeit his state contractor’s license. Konigson cannot apply for a license or registration issued by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. Nor can he hold a position of fiduciary, managerial, ownership, or supervisory authority with other licensed residential building contractors, licensed residential remodelers, or other entities performing masonry work in Minnesota. Konigson must pay restitution of $70,178.00 to Revenue. There are also other sentencing terms.

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Prior Lake man pleads guilty to tax fraud scheme