New Jersey man faces prison time for not paying $1.1M in taxes

A Monmouth County man could be spending the next few years behind bars for not paying $1.1 million in taxes.

Federal authorities said on Wednesday in Trenton federal court, 66-year-old Francis Esposito of Red Bank pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return.

According to officials, Esposito was the sole or majority owner of numerous entities and for tax years 2015 through 2018, he failed to report income on tax forms.

• For tax year 2018, Esposito had approximately $719,272 of unreported income, which resulted in a tax loss of approximately $216,635

• For tax year 2017, he had approximately $940,978 of unreported income, which resulted in a tax loss of about $383,806

• For tax year 2016, Esposito had approximately $746,886 of unreported income, which resulted in a tax loss of approximately $304,640

• For tax year 2015, he had approximately $589,929 of unreported income, which resulted in a tax loss of approximately $244,291

In total, his unreported income resulted in a tax loss of approximately $1,149,372.

The charge of filing a false tax return could send Esposito to prison for up to three years with a fine of up to $250,000, or twice the gain or loss resulting from the offense.

Acting United States Attorney Vikas Khanna credited special agents of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation for their work in this case. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Vinay Limbachia and Andrew Kogan of the Cybercrime Unit in Newark.