U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger has sentenced Marielys Feliciano Rodriguez, 47, of Orlando, to one year of house arrest for her role in a wire and tax fraud scheme. Rodriguez has been ordered to pay $3,338,558 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and will serve a five-year term of supervised release. Additionally, the court entered a money judgment against her amounting to $347,760, representing the proceeds from the wire fraud.
Court documents reveal that Rodriguez set up a shell company claiming involvement in the construction industry. She obtained a workers’ compensation insurance policy under this shell company for minimal payroll and "rented" it out to work crews with subcontracts on various projects across Florida and other states. The contractors received certificates from Rodriguez as proof of workers' compensation insurance coverage. However, these certificates falsely indicated that the work crews were employed by her shell company. This fraudulent activity allowed undocumented workers to be employed unlawfully.
Rodriguez's scheme involved cashing payroll checks issued by contractors to her shell companies and then distributing cash to work crews after deducting a fee typically around 6% of the payroll. Over the course of this operation, she cashed checks totaling approximately $13 million. Neither Rodriguez nor the contractors reported these wages or paid necessary payroll taxes such as Social Security, Medicare, and federal income tax, resulting in over $3 million owed in taxes.
The fraudulent activity also enabled contractors to avoid paying higher costs for adequate workers’ compensation insurance for their crews. The policy purchased by Rodriguez was based on an estimated payroll of $121,800 with a premium cost of about $8,006; however, if calculated on actual payrolls totaling approximately $5 million dollars, premiums would have reached around $461,679.
Tim Hemker from Homeland Security Investigations Jacksonville stated: “Fraudulent schemes that provide under-the-table cash payments ultimately exploit undocumented aliens for large profits and undermines the integrity of the industry." He added that they would continue investigating illegal practices alongside law enforcement partners.
Ron Loecker from IRS Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office emphasized: “Today’s sentence sends a clear message that off-the-books payroll schemes which enable illegal immigrants the ability to work without paying taxes will not be tolerated." He highlighted how such schemes harm law-abiding businesses unable to compete against tax-free labor.
The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations, IRS Criminal Investigation, and Florida Department of Financial Services. Assistant United States Attorney John Cannizzaro prosecuted the case.