Lakeland’s Paz Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud Conspiracy

Tampa, Florida – The grimy details of a multimillion-dollar wire fraud scam have emerged with the guilty plea of Lakeland’s Ramon Paz, 52. The U.S. Attorney Roger B. Handberg has announced that Paz has copped to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, setting him up for a potential 20-year federal prison sentence.

Paz’s construction company, registered in December 2016 with the State of Florida, was a front for a fraudulent scheme. The firm claimed to provide construction services and labor but failed to comply with worker’s compensation insurance requirements. Paz or his associates exploited this by using undocumented aliens as ’employees’ at construction sites, cashing payroll checks worth over $21 million.

According to the plea agreement, Paz falsely reported a limited payroll and employee count in insurance applications while misleading contractors about full worker’s compensation coverage for these so-called employees. This deception led to Paz’s company receiving excessive funds, far surpassing the reported figures. Consequently, real workers on jobsites lacked adequate insurance coverage, and insurers lost premiums.

Not only did Paz evade responsibility for legal work authorization in the U.S., but he also dodged payroll tax obligations. Contractors who paid these workers’ wages were able to sidestep their duties as well. This case has been a joint effort by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the State of Florida Department of Financial Services.

Assistant United States Attorney Jay L. Hoffer is now handling the prosecution. Despite Paz’s guilty plea, a sentencing date remains undecided.

Stay tuned to Grimy Times for updates on this shocking case of white-collar crime.