Manalapan Couple Charged With $750K Theft In Tax Fraud Scheme

MANALAPAN, NJ — A local couple has been charged with conspiring to steal over $750,000 by failing to report nearly $4.5 million in taxable income throughout five years, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago said.

Eli and Lauren Levy, both 43-year-old Manalapan residents, have each been charged with single counts of conspiracy, Medicaid fraud, tax fraud, false statements related to an application for Medicaid benefits, and five counts each of failure to pay taxes and filing of a fraudulent return, prosecutors said.

The case began when the Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes and Special Prosecutions Unit received a tip from the Medicaid Fraud Division of the NJ Office of the State Comptroller.

According to prosecutors, the Medicaid Fraud Division found that the Levy household fraudulently received medical services and benefits through the NJ Family Care Medicaid Program.

Shortly after the unit received this tip, prosecutors said the investigation grew to involve the NJ Department of the Treasury’s Office of Criminal Investigation.

An analysis of the couple’s personal and business banking records revealed that the couple intentionally omitted taxable income from their jointly filed tax returns from 2018 through 2022, Santiago said.

Despite the couple not reporting this income, prosecutors said their companies, Supreme Cleaning Services and Nation Wide Shippers, collected a total of $4.48 million in revenue throughout that time period.

Excluding penalties and interest, the amount of taxes the couple evaded topped $768,000, authorities said.

The investigation also revealed that the couple fraudulently collected more than $83,000 in medical services through New Jersey Family Care from 2015 through 2019, according to prosecutors.

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Eli and Lauren Levy turned themselves in to authorities without incident.

The couple were released on summonses pending future proceedings in Monmouth County Superior Court.