Three men from Orlando have entered guilty pleas to charges involving a fraudulent scheme that deliberately skirted payroll taxes and workers’ compensation insurance requirements in the construction industry. Eduardo Anibal Escobar, 44, Carlos Alberto Rodriguez, 35, and Adelmy Tejada, 57, admitted their roles in the conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud, with potential penalties including up to 20 years for the wire fraud and 5 years for tax fraud offenses, a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed.
In a statement by U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe, it was disclosed that the trio were involved in a scheme from January 2015 through August 2024. Their operation involved registering companies in Florida that purportedly employed a small number of workers., These companies, in reality, were a front to underrepresent payroll and avoid employment taxes on around $146 million in wages. By doing so, they circumvented paying $36,957,616 in taxes and workers’ compensation insurance to the IRS, and construction workers, most of whom were undocumented, worked without legal authorization.
The fraud has serious financial implications, with restitution totaling over $50 million owed to insurance companies and the IRS. According to the court documents, the men had to forfeit nearly $9 million earned from the scheme and two houses bought with that money. While workers’ compensation insurers were led to believe they were covering a marginal payroll, they inadvertently provided coverage for the vast unreported payroll, losing out on nearly $13 million in premium payments…