Son Of Monmouth County Mayor Admits To $2 Million In Tax Evasion

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ — The son of West Long Branch Mayor Janet Tucci pleaded guilty to $2 million in tax evasion.

The son is Matthew Tucci, 52, who also lives in West Long Branch, acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced. Federal prosecutors say he hid the taxes from the IRS by purchasing real estate, which he then claimed to the IRS he did not own.

His mother, Mayor Tucci, is a Republican and she has been the mayor of West Long Branch since 2005. The Tucci family are longtime residents of West Long Branch.

Tucci filed tax returns for 2015 and 2016 that stated he owed more than $2 million in taxes, say federal prosecutors. In those years, Tucci received millions of dollars in income from refunds issued by the Customs and Tax Administration of the Kingdom of Denmark.

However, despite admitting that he owed those taxes, Tucci did not fully pay them when they were due. Instead, Tucci purchased more than $7.6 million worth of real estate and engaged in a series of transactions designed to conceal his interest in those properties.

In 2017, the IRS sent notices to Matthew Tucci that he owed taxes, interest and penalties for 2015 and 2016. After receiving these notices, Tucci transferred multiple properties to an entity owned by another individual, but he continued to exert control over at least two of the properties.

Of the two properties Tucci continued to control, he sold one and refinanced the other. Tucci used the proceeds from these transactions to pay his personal expenses rather than his tax debts. In 2019, Tucci submitted documents to the IRS that falsely claimed that he had no connection to the entity that owned the 12 properties.

He will be sentenced in October and is facing a maximum penalty of five years in prison as well as a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Initial Patch report on Matthew Tucci: Monmouth County Man Charged With $2M In Tax Evasion (April 2024)