A Fitchburg man and a Clinton Man each had additional federal charges added on to pending charges in federal court on Thursday, February 25.
The Department of Justice [DOJ] charged Juliano Fernandes, 39, of Clinton, with 11 counts of failure to pay over employment taxes and two counts of mail fraud.
On February 25, a superseding indictment charged Fernandes with making two false statements to the Department of Labor in August 2017. He allegedly made a claim about the value of a property he owned in Lunenburg and that he never had responsibility or control over the payroll for Force Corporation.
The DOJ charged Anderson Dos Santos, 36, of Fitchburg, with mail fraud in August 2017. In the superseding indictment, Dos Santos faces charges of two counts of filing a false and fraudulent tax return related to his 2013 and 2014 personal tax returns.
According to charging documents, Fernandes managed two businesses, Force Corporation and AB Construction, both based in Massachusetts. Between 2015 and 2017, Fernandes willfully failed to account for and pay over employment taxes for Force Corporation and AB Construction to the Internal Revenue Service.
The charging documents also allege that from April 2013 through January 2017, Fernandes engaged schemed to defraud worker’s compensation insurance by misrepresenting the wages paid by Force Corporation and the number of employees it had.
Prosecutors also allege that both Fernandes and Dos Santos in the same scheme for AB Construction between December 2013 and April 2016.
Mail fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Failure to pay over employment taxes and making a false statement each provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Filing a false tax return provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
