Press Release  New Hampshire Company and Owner Ordered to Pay Restitution for Failing to Pay Unemployment Insurance Contributions

BOSTON — A Merrimack, New Hampshire based company that provides liquidation for business furniture and equipment and its owner have pleaded guilty and been ordered to pay $180,000 in restitution for failing to pay employer contributions to the state’s unemployment insurance fund, Attorney General Maura Healey announced today.

James Bucchianeri, age 67, of Derry, New Hampshire, president and owner of Global FF&E (aka Nationwide FF&E), pleaded guilty in Suffolk Superior Court March 31in a virtual hearing to the charge of Non-Payment of Employer Contribution (16 counts). Following the plea, Judge Debra Squires-Lee sentenced Bucchianeri to five years of probation and ordered him to complete 200 hours of community service and pay $180,000 in restitution to the state.

“We’ve seen record unemployment numbers during the pandemic and many people are still out of work and need assistance from the state just to put food on the table or pay rent,” AG Healey said. “With this sentence, this money will now be paid back to the state to be used to help those who are struggling amid the ongoing public health and economic crisis.”

Bucchianeri and his company routinely failed to pay Unemployment Insurance contributions for its Massachusetts employees between 2014 and 2019. In total, they failed to pay at least $449,569 to the state’s Department of Unemployment Assistance.

AG Healey’s Insurance and Unemployment Fraud Unit works to protect consumers and the integrity of the insurance system by investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against all types of insurers, including the state’s unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation systems. This case was referred to the AG’s Office by the Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Joshua Pakstis with assistance from Senior Investigator Michael Azevedo, of AG Healey’s Insurance and Unemployment Fraud Unit and investigators at the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development/Department of Unemployment Assistance.

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