Two Plead Guilty in Estimated $3.6M Payroll Fraud Scheme

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that two men in Florida pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges relating to their use of a shell company to conceal employees in a scheme that reportedly saved about $3.6 million in workers’ compensation costs. Prosecutors said Gregorio Jose Fuentes-Zelaya, 27, and Dennis Alexander Barahona, 38, also evaded more than $5.7 million in taxes as a result of the scheme. Prosecutors said Fuentes-Zelaya and Barahona established shell companies that purported to be involved in the construction industry. They obtained workers’ compensation insurance...