Monmouth County brother and sister charged in scheme to defraud IRS
TRENTON - A brother and sister from Monmouth County have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States after the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the siblings evaded payment of $1.5 million in payroll taxes at their family-owned companies.
Enrico Cifelli, 51, of Holmdel, and Michelle Bocchieri, 42, of Matawan, were arrested Friday and made an initial appearance by videoconference in federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lois H. Goodman, announced U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger.
They were indicted Thursday. The federal government alleges that from 2013 to 2020, Cifelli and Bocchieri conspired to evade the payment of taxes, as well as penalties and interest that Cifelli owed the IRS as far back as 2004.
Cifelli’s tax liability stemmed from the unpaid payroll taxes of two companies that he controlled: Cifelli Disposal Inc., a waste disposal business, and LBAB LLC, a construction business, the U.S. Attorney said in a prepared statement announcing their arrests.
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Cifelli failed to pay the vast majority of payroll taxes for Cifelli Disposal for the years 2004 through 2008, and for LBAB for the years 2009 through 2015, resulting in the more than $1.5 million in taxes, penalties, and interest, according to the statement.
To avoid paying the IRS and to give the false impression that Cifelli lacked the ability to pay his back taxes, Cifelli and Bocchieri conspired to have the sister fund her brother’s lifestyle through a company she nominally owned. In actuality, it was Cifelli who controlled the organization. Nevertheless, the federal government alleges that Bocchieri “caused” her company to make the down payment on her brother’s home, was funding his mortgage payments and other expenses related to the residence, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Cifelli also submitted a false “Offer in Compromise” to the IRS in June 2016, according to the statement. An offer in compromise allows taxpayers to settle their tax debt for less than the full amount owed if they can demonstrate that they would suffer from a financial hardship if they were made to pay the full amount, according to the IRS.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that Cifelli had made “multiple misrepresentations and material omissions of his assets and household income, while offering to settle his tax debt for pennies on the dollar.”
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As a consequence, the brother has also been charged with one count of evasion of payment of payroll taxes, four counts of failure to pay payroll taxes and one count of evasion of assessment of income tax, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
If convicted, each count carries a penalty of up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000 — or twice the gross pecuniary gain or loss to any person, whichever is greatest, the statement said.
The siblings have since been released on bond. Cifelli was released on a $500,000 unsecured appearance bond and Bocchieri on a $250,000 unsecured appearance bond. Arraignment is scheduled for April 4 before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan, all according to the statement.
Special agents of the IRS Criminal Investigation division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez, conducted the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elisa T. Wiygul of the Criminal Division in Camden is now responsible for prosecuting the brother and sister.
Erik Larsen: 732-682-9359 or elarsen@gannettnj.com
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ brother and sister charged in scheme to defraud IRS
