Rooney Sentenced, Fined in Tax Case

A former principal of broker Rooney, Pace Inc., which agreed last year to leave the securities industry after being charged with violating public offering laws, was sentenced on Friday to four months in prison on income tax evasion charges.

Patrick Rooney was also fined $50,000, ordered to serve 300 hours of community service and was given three years’ probation. He was released on his own recognizance.

He was convicted in March after a 2 1/2-week jury trial on charges of conspiracy and filing a false income tax return for 1983.

The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office alleged that Rooney had written a $50,000 check to the American Cancer Society, but that $45,000 was returned to him in an income tax evasion scheme. Rooney was charged with deducting the entire $50,000 as a charitable contribution.

He had faced a possible maximum eight-year prison term and a $110,000 fine.

Rooney Pace was once a major player in the business of initial public offerings. It agreed to leave the securities business after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged last November that the firm broke federal laws in three offerings it underwrote.

At the time, the SEC also suspended Randolph Pace, chairman of the firm and of its parent company, Rooney Pace Group Inc., from the securities business for nine months. It also restricted him from becoming a principal or supervisor in another securities firm for five years.