New Jersey construction company owner admits tax evasion

Date: Oct. 15, 2024

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Newark, NJ - The owner of several New Jersey masonry construction companies pleaded guilty to willfully evading taxes, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced today.

Joseph Caravella, of Randolph, New Jersey pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Cox Arleo in Newark federal court on Oct. 10, 2024, to a superseding information charging him with tax evasion for tax years 2008 to 2019.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

From 2008 to 2016, the IRS assessed approximately $650,000 in Trust Fund Recovery Penalties against Caravella for causing three masonry businesses that he owned to fail to pay their employment taxes. From March 2008 through April 2019, Caravella attempted to evade these taxes by placing companies that he controlled in the names of nominee owners; providing the IRS with false and misleading information as part of an Offer in Compromise; filing a false individual income tax return; using bank accounts in the names of nominees for his own purposes; causing his personal expenses to be paid with corporate funds; and causing his compensation to be inaccurately reported or not reported to the IRS on Forms W-2.

The tax evasion charge carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for March 18, 2025.

U.S. Attorney Sellinger credited special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI), under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan in Newark, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Shontae D. Gray of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark, and Trial Attorneys Kenneth Vert and Evan Mulbry of the Justice Department's Tax Division.

IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.