Woman Pleads Guilty To Fraud, Ordered To Forfeit Polk County Property

TAMPA, FL — U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle has sentenced Mayra Velasquez, 35, of Apopka 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 also ordered her to forfeit $600,752 and three properties in Polk County, all proceeds from the fraud. Velasquez pleaded guilty on March 9, 2022.

According to court documents, Velasquez owned and managed a construction company which claimed to supply construction services and labor for construction contractors and subcontractors.

To comply with Florida law, Velasquez’s company was required to have adequate worker’s compensation insurance coverage.

However, court records showed that Velasquez’s company had agreements with contractors and subcontractors to use workers who were undocumented immigrants and Velasquez regularly received “payroll checks” from contractors that she cashed at various financial institutions to pay her “employees."

At the same time, Velasquez falsely represented on insurance applications that her company had a limited payroll and a limited number of employees who worked on construction sites. Velasquez also sent wire communications to numerous contractors claiming 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 “employees.” These payroll figures far exceeded the limited payroll figures that Velasquez reported to her worker’s compensation insurance company.

As a result, these employees performed work 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 being manipulated to cover. The loss to those insurers was almost $750,000 in insurance premiums.

Velasquez’s company also claimed the workers were legally authorized to work in the United States, and evaded laws that required the payment of state and federal payroll taxes on behalf of these workers.

Velasquez’s company did not pay any payroll taxes to the United States. In addition, the contractors who actually used these workers’ services and paid their wages were also able to avoid paying payroll taxes. The amount of those unpaid payroll taxes totaled more than $1.769 million.

“Velasquez engaged in a scheme which benefitted her at the expense of every U.S. taxpayer,” said IRS Criminal Investigations Special Agent in Charge Brian Payne. “This scheme is all too common in the construction industry, and IRS CI is working hard to ensure all employers operate on an even playing field and according to the law.”

“Workers’ compensation fraud will not be tolerated in Florida," Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said. "It puts businesses and injured workers in jeopardy and drives up insurance costs for honest business owners who properly protect their employees.”

“This fraudster was responsible for a scheme to evade workers' compensation premiums and avoid paying employment taxes, resulting in illicit profits and proceeds in the millions of dollars,” said Homeland Security Investigations Tampa Assistant Special Agent in Charge John Dumas. “HSI is proud to partner with the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations and the state of Florida Department of Financial Services to hold criminals accountable for taking advantage of government, private industry and America’s workforce.”