PROVIDENCE — Johnston art dealer Rocco P. DeSimone, who was convicted of filing a false tax return, must report back to federal prison by July 11 now that his appeal has been rejected.

DeSimone served about six months of a 27-month sentence before being released on bail pending the outcome of an appeal. But the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal on June 7. Last Friday, federal prosecutors filed an unopposed motion seeking to revoke bail and put DeSimone back behind bars.

“There is no longer any basis for defendant to remain on bail pending appeal,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Luis M. Matos wrote. “Accordingly, the United States respectfully requests that the court order the defendant to report to a facility designated by the Bureau of Prisons by July 11, 2007. Counsel for the United States and counsel for defendant, Kevin Bristow, have consulted on this matter and concur that the period from June 7, 2007, to July 11, 2007, will provide defendant with sufficient time to get his affairs in order so that he may continue his sentence.”

U.S. District Judge William E. Smith granted the motion on Tuesday.

DeSimone, 54, of 103 Hopkins Ave., was accused of cheating New York art dealer Janet Traeger Salz in a multimillion-dollar deal involving the works of Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Pierre Auguste Renoir. Because the transactions were conducted by electronic means across state lines, he was charged with wire fraud.

In March 2005, a jury acquitted DeSimone of wire fraud but convicted him of falsely claiming income from the sale of art as a long-term capital gain rather than ordinary income, which is taxed at a higher rate. An IRS agent said DeSimone should have paid an additional $422,832 in taxes.

efitzpat@projo.com