Monmouth Beach man already facing prison for financial scam gets pinned for tax fraud too
TRENTON - A federal jury has convicted a Monmouth Beach man for not paying taxes on the ill-gotten gains from his role in a $39 million securities fraud, authorities said.
Joseph Cammarata, 49, of Monmouth Beach, was found guilty last Wednesday on five counts of tax evasion following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court. A sentencing date has not been set. Each count of tax evasion is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Cammarata was previously convicted in federal court in Pennsylvania of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering in connection with this scheme. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on those charges.
“This defendant has now been convicted by two separate juries of serious crimes,” U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger, said. “First, he was convicted by a jury in Philadelphia federal court for his role in a scheme to defraud investors out of millions of dollars. Now, a Trenton jury has convicted him of hiding from the IRS the more than $16 million he pocketed as he tried to avoid paying his fair share of taxes."
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According to documents and evidence presented at trial, Cammarata and two conspirators, David Punturieri and Erik Cohen, were the principals of Alpha Plus Recovery, a claims aggregator firm based in Old Bridge.
Punturieri and Cohen previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, fraud and money laundering charges, authorities said
Cammarata, Punturieri and Cohen used Alpha Plus Recovery to make fraudulent claims on the proceeds of securities fraud class action settlements and SEC enforcement actions.
They falsely claimed that corporate clients of Alpha Plus Recovery had purchased shares of securities that were the subject of the lawsuits and enforcement actions.
In reality, the supposed clients, which were entities actually controlled by Cammarata, Punturieri, and Cohen, had not purchased the subject securities and were not entitled to any money from the settlements or enforcement actions.
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To substantiate their false claims, they created fraudulent brokerage and other financial documents to provide to claims administrators, authorities said. Cammarata and his partners then transferred the fraudulently obtained funds into accounts that they controlled, stealing more than $39 million from 2015 to 2019, federal authorities said.
"Cammarata then concealed more than $16 million of his proceeds of that fraud from the IRS," U.S. Attorney Jacqueline Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said. "The verdict in the New Jersey case makes clear that those who hide income gained by fraud will face the same consequences as those who try to evade their tax obligations from legal sources of income."
David P. Willis: dwillis@gannettnj.com
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Monmouth Beach NJ man in financial scam convicted of tax fraud
