Not a ghost of a chance; all's Wells; fictitious spouses; and other highlights of recent tax cases.
Mahwah, New Jersey: Louis V. Greco III, 38, of Highland Mills, New York, pleaded guilty to tax evasion for tax years 2018 to 2022.
Greco owned NJ Mobile Health Care LLC, based in Mahwah, which provided ambulance services.
Beginning in 2018, the company failed to pay payroll taxes to the IRS.
After the IRS began to try to collect the taxes, Greco opened SSME Services LLC and moved the employees to that firm, then continued to avoid the taxes. When the IRS tried to collect taxes from the new company, Greco opened Lime Line Operations LLC and moved the employees there.
From 2018 to 2022, Greco caused these three companies to fail to pay to the IRS more than $1.4 million in payroll taxes.
The tax evasion charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 5.
Louisville Kentucky: Angel De La Rosa, 41, of Jasper, Indiana, and Yaimy Real, 34, of Louisville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of a false and fraudulent tax return and filing false tax returns.
De La Rosa and Real operated a tax return preparation business, "De La Rosa Multiservices," in both Jasper and Louisville.
From January 2018 through July 2021, they prepared approximately 5,892 fraudulent federal tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2020. Their conduct caused an estimated $10,577,612 in tax loss to the IRS.
When preparing returns for their clients, the defendants acted as "ghost" return preparers. De La Rosa and Real failed to identify themselves as the preparers, which allowed the returns to be filed without disclosing their involvement.
Through the scheme, the defendants collected approximately $736,500 in fees from their clients.
De La Rosa was sentenced to four years, followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $15,005,149.83 in restitution.
Real was sentenced to three years, followed by two years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $ 15,019,543.84 in restitution.
Miami: A convicted felon pleaded guilty to orchestrating a years-long real estate investment fraud scheme that raised more than $50 million from investors through false promises about high-value property assets and the use of investor funds.
Jean Joseph, also known as "Jon," 55, of Boca Raton, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering. His co-defendant, Janalie Camille Bingham, also known as Janalie Camille Joseph, 44, also of Boca Raton, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Joseph and Bingham formed Wells Real Estate Investment, LLC in or around 2017 and operated the company together, with Bingham serving as the CEO. Beginning in approximately 2019, Joseph and Bingham concealed Joseph's involvement in the business after he became a convicted felon.
Despite beginning to serve a prison sentence in June 2020 in an unrelated wire fraud case, Joseph continued to direct aspects of the scheme from prison. Earlier, in October 2019, Joseph and Bingham opened a bank account in the name of Wells Real Estate, with Bingham as the sole authorized signer due to Joseph's pending criminal prosecution. Joseph nevertheless directed transactions in the account, including while incarcerated.
From approximately 2019 through 2024, Joseph and Bingham solicited investors to purchase promissory notes issued by Wells Real Estate. They falsely represented that investor funds would be used to acquire and improve residential and commercial real estate and that the notes were backed by valuable real estate holdings. In reality, only a small portion of investor funds was used for real estate. Instead, Joseph diverted approximately $28 million into speculative equities trading.
To sustain the scheme, the defendants used funds from newer investors to make more than $8 million in Ponzi-style payments to earlier investors, without disclosing the source of those payments.
Bingham's sentencing is scheduled for May 8, and Joseph's sentencing is set for June 4.
Whitewater, Wisconsin: Mauricio Castaneda, 51, a Wisconsin tax professional, who prosecutors said filed 340 false returns in an attempt to defraud the state of more than $330,000, was sentenced to prison earlier this month.
Castaneda allegedly filed fraudulent returns that used different identification numbers, but the customers' same W-2 wage statements that were previously used to receive refunds. Castaneda also allegedly added fictitious spouses and claimed credits to increase the tax refunds.
Castaneda received the refund checks in the mail and deposited them into his bank account. The Wisconsin Department of Revenue prevented refunds from being issued for 307 of the 340 fraudulent returns, but Castaneda received refunds on 33 returns for a loss of $33,356 to the state.
Castaneda was convicted of five counts of fraud and was sentenced to two years in prison and two-and-a-half years of extended supervision. He was also ordered not to prepare or file tax returns for anyone but himself.
Danville, Virginia: Howard Keith Wilson, a 73-year-old business owner from Danville was sentenced to three years of supervised release for failure to pay federal income taxes.
Wilson failed to pay federal income taxes over multiple years, resulting in a significant tax debt. He was convicted of tax fraud and will now have to serve jail time as part of his sentence.
