A Wilmington man admitted to conspiring with his father to file false federal tax returns for shell companies, resulting in approximately $241,000 in refunds.
The plea was part of a case involving a scheme by the family to use fake businesses to gain tax refunds.
Newark, NJ U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced that Johnathan Crespo, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiring with Jose Crespo to defraud the IRS by filing corporate tax returns for fake businesses and cashing fraudulent refund checks.
Between 2011 and 2013, Johnathan Crespo and his father, Jose Crespo, filed numerous false federal corporate tax returns, IRS Forms 1120, for fake businesses. The false tax returns resulted in approximately $241,000 in refunds being issued by the IRS.
In filing these false tax returns, Johnathan and Jose Crespo took advantage of fuel excise tax credits offered under federal tax law. The federal government taxes gasoline, diesel fuel, and certain other types of fuel, but certain commercial uses of these fuels are nontaxable.
In one instance, Johnathan and Jose Crespo filed a federal corporate tax return for 2011 for Advanced Transportation Corp. that falsely claimed a fuel excise tax credit of $24,898 and a resulting refund of $20,767.
Advanced Transportation was a shell company, and the fuel excise tax credit and other tax return numbers were false.
Johnathan Crespo received and cashed the $20,767 refund check at a check-cashing facility in Guttenberg, New Jersey. He cashed other refund checks for similar false tax returns at this same check-cashing facility.
Jose Crespo pleaded guilty on Sept. 11, 2017 in the fuel excise tax credit scheme and another tax fraud scheme, which together claimed fraudulent refunds from the IRS of nearly $1.5 million. He was sentenced on Dec. 20, 2017, to three years in prison.
Marilyn Crespo, Jose Crespo’s wife, pleaded guilty March 1, 2018 to engaging in the same fuel excise tax credit scheme and causing a loss to the IRS of $286,742. Marilyn Crespo was sentenced on June 27, 2018, to a year in prison and ordered to pay restitution of $286,742.
Johnathan Crespo’s brother, Jason Crespo, pleaded guilty June 28 to engaging in the same fuel excise tax credit scheme and causing a loss to the IRS of $191,953. His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4, 2018.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.
