Ex-Naperville business owners sentenced for tax evasion

Two men who used to run a Naperville-based consumer discount program have been sentenced to more than three years in prison each after pleading guilty in March to failing to pay taxes on more than $22 million they diverted from their company.

Michael H. Martorano, 66, formerly of Naperville, and Williams S. Sefton, 62, of Scottsdale, Ariz., have also repaid more than $10.2 million they owed the IRS, federal prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said between 2005 and 2009, the men transferred nearly $21.7 million into bank accounts in the name of a consulting company they owned from their company, Consumer Benefit Service, Inc., an operation that provided a variety of membership and consumer discount programs.

In 2008, the men also divided $641,975 that, among other things, paid for a “muscle car” for Sefton, prosecutors said.

Martorano was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison, while Sefton received a four-year sentence. Both men will have to serve at least 85 percent of the prison terms. They were also fined $12,500 each.