A Freeport woman, Damaris Beltre, was sentenced to four years in prison in federal court in connection to charges of wire fraud and preparing false tax returns. Beltre will have to pay over $11.6 million in restitution in connection to her crimes.
Beltre, 59, was sentenced Oct. 8 in a Central Islip federal court by U.S. District Judge Sanket J. Bulsara following her guilty plea on Jan. 28. Beltre admitted to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration by submitting false Covid-19 aid applications in her capacity as a company owner.
Beltre owned and operated multiple corporate entities based in Freeport that offered tax preparation and other financial services. From approximately Jan. 2021 through April 2024, Beltre allegedly prepared and supervised employees who helped her prepare false and fraudulent individual income tax returns for her taxpayer-clients, and then submitted them to the Internal Revenue Service, IRS.
The tax returns that Beltre prepared and had prepared for her clients listed false dependents and fraudulently claimed tens of millions of dollars in Covid-19-related tax credits and motor fuel income tax credits to directly reduce tax liability and provide refunds to clients that they were not entitled to.
Beltre's clients reportedly paid more than $1 million in fees for her services for these false returns, which included a percentage of any tax refund clients got.
One example of this that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York provided in press release was how in April 2023, a federal undercover agent hired Beltre to prepare his individual income tax return. If prepared correctly, the agent would be told that he owed $205. Beltre instead prepared a fraudulent tax return that contained baseless statements and tax credits, and claimed that the agent could get a refund of over $14,243. Beltre charged the agent $2,200 in fees to submit the fraudulent tax return.
As a result of Beltre's scheme that went on for years, the IRS improperly issued nearly $11 million in tax refunds to her clients and failed to collect several millions of dollars. As a result, Beltre will have to pay back the U.S. government $11,629,000 in restitution.
"Beltre conducted a massive fraud on the government by falsifying documents and brazenly lying in order to line her own pockets with taxpayer money," said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "Today's sentencing should serve as a warning to corrupt tax preparers that federal programs and the treasury are not ATMs that they can loot with impunity, and also that the price to pay for such brazen conduct is a prison sentence."
The IRS' Criminal Investigation unit was also a part of the investigative efforts, and Special Agent in Charge Harry T. Chavis Jr. took time to condemn Beltre's actions further.
"Beltre's fraudulent tax filings and claims of bogus credit undermine the integrity of our entire tax system," he said. "Beltre's fraudulent PPP [Paycheck Protection Program] loans which she used to buy a home in the Dominican Republic are the antithesis of what these funds were intended for."
Nocella also expressed his appreciation to the Freeport Police Department, the New York Field Office of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Small Business Administration for their assistance in investigating this case.
