BOSTON (AP) - An accountant has been convicted by a federal grand jury of conspiring with a former state senator to defraud the IRS.

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling says 67-year-old John Nardozzi, of Waltham, Massachusetts, was convicted Wednesday of defrauding the IRS of approximately $600,000.

Lelling says Nardozzi manipulated income that should’ve been reported on former state Sen. Brian Joyce’s corporate tax return, and falsely created a fund for Joyce and his wife to defer income taxes.

Joyce was found dead at his Westport home last year. The medical examiner determined the 56-year-old died from an overdose of a medication commonly used to treat insomnia.

Joyce had pleaded not guilty to charges of accepting bribes and kickbacks and laundering the money through his law office.

Court records show Lelling dismissed those charges, citing Joyce’s death.

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