Three Orlando Residents Plead Guilty To Scheme That Facilitated Evasion Of Payroll Taxes And Workers’ Compensation Requirements In Construction Industry

April 4, 2025

Jacksonville, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces that Eduardo Anibal Escobar (44), Carlos Alberto Rodriguez (35), and Adelmy Tejada (57), all residents of Orlando, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit tax fraud.

Each are legal permanent residents from El Salvador. Each faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison for the wire fraud offense and up to 5 years in federal prison for the tax fraud offense.

These individuals are subject to an order requiring them to forfeit at least $8,764,652 in proceeds which they obtained as a result of the wire fraud offense and two houses in Orlando that were purchased with those proceeds.

The defendants are also subject to an order requiring them to pay restitution in the amounts of $12,992,908 to four insurance companies for unpaid workers’ compensation insurance premiums, $397,895 to two of the companies for workers’ compensation claims that the companies paid, and $36,957,616 for unpaid employment taxes on approximately $146,077,535 in payroll that was not reported to the IRS. The sentencing dates have not yet been set.

According to court documents, over the period of approximately January 2015 through August 2024, the defendants engaged in a scheme to defraud involving misrepresentations concerning workers’ compensation insurance.

The purposes of the scheme were to facilitate the employment of workers who were not legally authorized to work in the United States, to avoid paying for adequate workers’ compensation insurance, and to avoid paying required payroll taxes.

To carry out the scheme, Escobar, Rodriguez, and Tejada obtained workers’ compensation insurance policies in the names of companies they registered with the State of Florida. The policies covered a handful of employees and a minimal payroll. They then reached agreements with hundreds of construction subcontractors to represent to construction contractors that the subcontractors were employed by the defendants’ companies.

The subcontractors provided the defendants with the names of the contractors for whom they wanted to perform work, and the defendants sent the contractors documents representing that the subcontractors worked for the defendants’ companies and that they were covered by the companies’ workers’ compensation insurance.

This representation allowed the subcontractors to obtain contracts with, and perform work for, the construction contractors. The contractors wrote payroll checks to the defendants’ companies for work performed by the subcontractors and the defendants distributed the payroll to the workers, after keeping 6% to 8% as a fee.

Most of the workers were undocumented aliens working illegally in the United States. Over the course of the scheme, approximately $146,077,535 in payroll flowed through the companies, on which the defendants were paid fees totaling at least $8,764,652.

Although the workers’ compensation insurers believed they were providing coverage for the limited payroll reflected in the insurance applications and reported by the defendants, the insurers unknowingly provided coverage for the approximately $146,077,535 in payroll that flowed through the defendants’ companies.

If the insurers had known the amount of payroll they were in fact covering, they would have charged additional annual premiums totaling at least $12,992,908. Neither the defendants nor the contractors nor the subcontractors reported to the IRS the payroll that flowed through the defendants’ companies, and no one paid either the employees’ portion or the employers’ portion of payroll taxes due. If the total payroll of approximately $146,077,535 had been properly reported to the IRS, the total payroll taxes due would have been approximately $36,957,616.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, and the Florida Department of Financial Services. It is part of a continuing investigation by those agencies of the use of shell companies and “ghost” employees in the construction industry. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier. The asset forfeiture is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer M. Harrington.