Tampa, Florida – Mayra Velasquez (35, Apopka) has been sentenced to three years and five months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States and the Internal Revenue Service.
The Court has also entered an order of forfeiture in the amount of $600,752, and an order for the forfeiture of three properties in Polk County, all as part of the proceeds of the conspiracies. Velasquez had pleaded guilty on March 9, 2022.
According to court documents, Velasquez owned and managed a construction company which purported to supply construction services and labor for construction contractors and subcontractors. In order to comply with Florida law, Velasquez’s company was required to secure and maintain adequate worker’s compensation insurance coverage.
Velasquez’s company had agreements with contractors and subcontractors to use workers purported to be Velasquez’s employees at construction sites and these workers were often undocumented aliens who were actually working for and under the daily supervision and direction of the contractors. Velasquez or others then regularly received “payroll checks” from contractors that they cashed at various financial institutions to pay Velasquez’s purported “employees” and other related expenses.
During the time period charged, Velasquez falsely and fraudulently represented in insurance applications that her company had a very limited payroll and a very limited number of employees who worked on construction jobsites. Velasquez also falsely and fraudulently sent wire communications to numerous contractors representing that her company’s employees had full worker’s compensation coverage.
In reality, Velasquez’s company received and cashed more than $7 million in checks from various construction contractors for these purported “employees.” These payroll figures far exceeded the very limited payroll figures that Velasquez had reported to her worker’s compensation insurance company.
As a result, these employees, in reality the employees of other entities, performed work on jobsites without adequate insurance coverage. In addition, the insurance companies that dealt with Velasquez’s company lost premiums they would have charged had they been aware of the true number of workers their policies were thus being manipulated to cover. The loss to those insurers was almost $750,000 in insurance premiums that were not paid.
Defendant: Mayra Velasquez
Crime: Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States and the Internal Revenue Service
City and State: Apopka, Florida
Exact Date: March 9, 2022
Sentence: Three years and five months in federal prison
Dollar Amounts: $600,752, $7 million, $750,000, $1.769 million
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Key Facts
- State: Florida
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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