Check cashing N.J. construction company owner pleads guilty to tax evasion

Last week, the owner of a local construction company in New Jersey admitted he cheated the IRS out of about $1.35 million in taxes.

Alain Rodrigues, 49, of Old Bridge evaded taxes and filed false returns when he deposited only a portion of customers’ payments into a business bank account, then converted the rest of the payments to cash and money orders, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey.

Rodrigues deposited the cash and money orders into a personal bank account or used it to pay cash wages to employees from 2017 to 2020, according to federal prosecutors.

He reported only the portion of the company’s revenue that was deposited in the business bank account on his taxes for the business, prosecutors said. Rodrigues also didn’t deduct all the required taxes from workers’ wages or pay employment taxes on them.

The company provided masonry services.

In all, the company paid $554,873 less than it owed in income taxes and failed to pay about $793,139 in employment taxes, officials said.

In an example provided in court documents, a customer provided Rodrigues’ company a $14,306 check on Nov. 30, 2018. He then used a check cashing service to convert those funds into four $1,000 money orders and $10,000 in cash. Check cashing businesses retain mandatory detailed records, which likely supported the government’s charges.

Court papers also outline how employees made $2,237,704 in total between 2018 and 2020, but Rodrigues reported only approximately $171,000 in wages.

Rodrigues agreed to pay $1.35 million in restitution when he pleaded guilty last week to tax evasion and failure to collect and pay over taxes.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19. He will report to jail a few months later.

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