Antonio Teixeira, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Tax Evasion, New Jersey 2024

NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County man who previously served as a staff member in the New Jersey Senate has been sentenced to eight months of home confinement and three years of probation for his role in a conspiracy to falsely inflate the invoices that a political consultant submitted to various campaigns, political action committees, and IRS 501(c)(4) organizations.

Antonio Teixeira, 44, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge John Michael Vazquez to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of tax evasion. Judge Vazquez imposed the sentence today in Newark federal court.

Teixeira conspired with Sean Caddle, and Caddle’s political consulting firms, to defraud various campaigns, political action committees, and 501(c)(4) organizations from 2014 to 2018. Teixeira failed to report this illicit income on tax forms that he filed with the IRS during those same years.

Caddle was hired by a former New Jersey state senator to create the PACs and 501(c)(4)s so that they could raise and spend money to advocate on a variety of issues, including supporting particular candidates in local races around New Jersey. Teixeira served as the senator’s chief of staff and wielded influence over the consultants that the campaigns and organizations hired and the budgets that each of these organizations would receive.

Teixeira and Caddle conspired to falsely inflate the invoices that Caddle’s consulting firms submitted to the campaigns, PACs and 501(c)(4)s with phony campaign-related expenditures. The scheme resulted in Teixeira receiving over $100,000 in fraudulent proceeds, which he used for personal expenses but failed to report on his tax forms.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Vazquez ordered Teixeira to pay restitution. The investigation was conducted by the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation, with the U.S. Attorney’s Office representing the government in the case.

U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger credited the special agents of the FBI and IRS-Criminal Investigation with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing. The government is represented by Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee M. Cortes Jr. and Sean Farrell, Chief, New York Office, Antitrust Division.

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