PHILADELPHIA, PA — Joseph Cammarata, a 49-year-old resident of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, has been found guilty of five counts of tax evasion. The verdict was announced on November 17, 2023, following a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in the District of New Jersey.
Cammarata, along with David Punturieri and Erik Cohen, were the principals of Alpha Plus Recovery, a claims aggregator firm based in Old Bridge, New Jersey. The trio used their firm to make false claims on securities fraud class action settlements and SEC enforcement actions, falsely asserting that corporate clients of Alpha Plus Recovery had purchased shares of securities under scrutiny.
In reality, these supposed clients, which were entities controlled by the defendants, had not purchased the securities and thus were not entitled to any recovery from the settlements or enforcement actions. To support their false claims, the defendants created fraudulent brokerage and other financial documents to provide to claims administrators.
Between 2015 and 2019, Cammarata and his partners transferred the fraudulently obtained funds into accounts they controlled, stealing more than $39 million. Cammarata’s share of the illegally obtained proceeds exceeded $18 million.
Cammarata failed to declare or pay taxes on income amounting to more than $16 million over five years. He concealed this income from his accountant, effectively hiding these sums from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero commented on the case, “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.”
Each count of tax evasion carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Previously, Cammarata was convicted in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and money laundering related to this scheme. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison on those charges on June 6, 2023.
The tax evasion case was brought in the District of New Jersey because Cammarata filed his taxes from there. The case was prosecuted by EDPA Assistant United States Attorneys David J. Ignall and Paul G. Shapiro, who also tried the earlier case.
The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, with trial support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.
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