Mario Flores conspired with his mistress and others to set up shell companies in Orlando, Florida
A Honduran national living in the United States illegally has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar payroll tax fraud scheme that deprived the U.S. government of tens of millions of dollars, the New York Post reports.Mario Flores was sentenced Wednesday after admitting his involvement in a conspiracy that helped companies avoid taxes and enabled the hiring of undocumented workers through an illegal cash system.Flores worked with his girlfriend and others to set up shell companies in Orlando, Florida, that operated unlicensed courier services and cashed checks for construction contractors and subcontractors.The scheme allowed the group to cash about $89 million in checks between 2015 and 2022, charging fees for its services while keeping operations off the books. The contractors then paid the workers in cash without deducting payroll taxes or complying with labor laws. Flores personally benefited from at least $9.4 million in the scheme.His girlfriend, Iris Villafranca, was sentenced last April to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $38 million in compensation.
Two other conspirators, Othman Zapata and Francisco Alvarez, also received four-year prison sentences and probation, along with fines.Flores pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter business. Prosecutors accused him of trying to obstruct the investigation by submitting false documents and misleading federal agents.Flores “attempted to deceive investigators by handing over “false receipt books to support the false tax returns that the shell companies filed with the IRS, and produced the false receipt books in response to grand jury subpoenas,” the sentencing memorandum said.She added that he also lied to investigators during interviews with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).“Villafranca repeatedly corresponded with Flores before he met with special agents at the Internal Revenue Service.
He then lied to special agents about his and Villafranca’s roles in the scheme.Officials said the operation was a clear example of how illegal financial networks operate alongside undocumented business systems.“This case exposes how unchecked illegal immigration fuels widespread payroll tax fraud and underground economies that harm American workers and taxpayers,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Section said in a statement.
