BOSTON — A Marlborough man who used to work as a real estate and accounting executive in Sudbury was sentenced Monday in federal court in Boston to two years in prison for his role in a yearslong scheme to defraud the IRS and for obstructing efforts to collect restitution owed to victims of earlier fraud schemes.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Stephen L. Hochberg, 78, of Marlborough, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Hochberg was also ordered to pay $2,888,288 in restitution to the IRS, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and victims of his earlier securities and wire fraud crimes. Hochberg pleaded guilty in January 2026 to conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of justice after he was charged in December 2025.
Federal prosecutors say that around 2014, Hochberg and Charles D. Katz, owner of CD Katz LLC and Gebsco Realty Corporation in Sudbury, agreed to hide Hochberg’s compensation from the IRS.
According to prosecutors, Hochberg served as director of corporate services at CD Katz LLC and chief operating officer at Gebsco Realty Corporation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Katz paid Hochberg significant compensation off the books so Hochberg would receive tax-free income and the two firms would owe less in employment taxes. Prosecutors said Katz paid Hochberg’s family, provided rent-free housing to Hochberg’s ex-wife, covered college tuition for his children and paid personal expenses charged on corporate credit cards.
In total, prosecutors said Katz paid Hochberg at least $1,668,487 in unreported income and avoided at least $835,105 in taxes.
The case also involved restitution Hochberg still owed from a prior federal fraud conviction. In 2008, Hochberg was convicted of eight counts of wire fraud and nine counts of securities fraud and was sentenced to more than five years in prison and ordered to pay $1,791,500 to victims, according to prosecutors.
Authorities said Hochberg later lied to the U.S. Attorney’s Office about his income from Katz’s businesses and obstructed efforts to collect the restitution owed to those victims.
Katz was also charged in the case and agreed to plead guilty in October 2025. The court accepted his plea, and his sentencing is scheduled for April 29, 2026.