In a story found on NJ.com, a Passaic father and his two sons pleaded guilty today to their roles in a long-running scheme to score millions of dollars in IRS tax refunds, prosecutors say.
Julio Concepcion, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal government funds and theft of government funds during an appearance today before U.S. District Court Judge Kevin McNulty.
His sons, Angel Concepcion-Vazquez, 30, and Julio Concepcion-Vazquez, 32, pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiring to steal government funds.
Concepcion admitted stealing fraudulent federal tax refund checks and recruiting others to open bank accounts where they could deposit the checks, New Jersey federal prosecutors say.
Both sons admitted opening accounts where the refund checks were deposited, they added.
The three were members of a conspiracy that ran from October 2009 through May 2013 and resulted in more than $2.5 million in losses to the U.S. Treasury.
Prosecutors say members of the ring obtained the Social Security numbers of individuals, several of whom lived in Puerto Rico, and filed phony income tax returns using the stolen information.
Funds from the refund checks were routed to bank accounts controlled by members of the conspiracy, prosecutors say.
Also pleading guilty today to conspiring to steal government funds were Jose Zapata, 67, and Romy Quezada, 24, both of Passaic.
Julio Concepcion also pleaded guilty to his role in an unrelated $2.5 million mortgage fraud scheme.
The tax investigation was led by agents from the IRS office of criminal investigations.
Sentencing for each of the defendants has been scheduled for May 7. 2015
For more information on this story visit http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/passaic_father_and_two_sons_admit_role_in_25m_tax.html#incart_river
