Jesus Pons, Tax Evasion, Florida 2014

A former Miami-Dade County employee has been brought to justice for his role in a massive tax evasion scheme. Jesus Pons, a Coral Gables, Florida resident and former computer services manager at the General Services Administration (GSA) of Miami-Dade County, was sentenced to serve 51 months in prison for his crimes.

Pons was responsible for managing and allocating resources to information technology projects for the county. He also supervised and managed tasks performed by county vendors. However, between 2007 and 2011, Pons received money in the form of illegal kickback payments from two county vendors, Data Industries and Paradyne Consulting Services.

In exchange for these illegal kickbacks, Pons approved payments from Miami-Dade County to the vendors for consulting work that was never performed. He failed to report the illegal kickbacks on his tax returns, causing a whopping $556,254 in tax loss.

Pons pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion on October 15, 2014, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The court documents revealed that Pons earned $1,666,998 in income from the scheme that he did not report to the IRS.

The case was investigated by special agents of the IRS-Criminal Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jeffrey A. McLellan and Erin Pulice of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

The sentence handed down to Pons serves as a stark reminder of the consequences of tax evasion. As a former employee of the county, Pons had a responsibility to uphold the law and pay his fair share of taxes. Instead, he chose to engage in a scheme that cost the U.S. Treasury dearly.

Pons will serve 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $556,254 in restitution to the U.S. Treasury. This sentence is a wake-up call for anyone considering tax evasion and highlights the importance of transparency and accountability in government.

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