June 27, 2003
PRESS RELEASE

HYANNIS MAN ARRESTED ON FEDERAL FRAUD CHARGES

Boston, MA... An indictment was unsealed today charging a former Hyannis man in federal court with scheming to defraud members of the local Brazilian community, and with lying to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the IRS and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Michael D. O'Keefe, District Attorney for Cape Cod and the Islands; Kenneth R. Jones, Inspector in Charge, of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in New England; Joseph A. Galasso, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation in New England; Robin A. Avers, Special Agent in Charge of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security for New England; and Kenneth R. Rideout, Chief of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, Criminal Investigations Bureau, announced that JOAREZ REIS, age 54, formerly of Hyannis, Massachusetts, was charged in a fifty-four count Indictment with mail fraud, making false statements to a federal agency, and presenting false claims against the United States.

The Indictment alleges that REIS held himself out as a provider of tax preparation and immigration application services, catering to Brazilian clients, many of whom were not fluent in English. REIS charged individuals a fee for helping them obtain permission to reside in this country. In actuality, REIS submitted forged marriage certificates to the Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") in order to obtain temporary work permits for his clients and submitted false change of address notices, so that the clients' paperwork would be sent to REIS, thus lulling the clients into believing that REIS had performed the services they had paid for.

In a separate scheme to defraud the IRS and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, it is alleged that REIS used clients' names and social security numbers, without the clients' knowledge, to submit phony tax returns seeking refunds. By using his own Post Office boxes as the mailing addresses on the returns, REIS was able to pocket the refund checks, while keeping the clients from learning what he was doing.

REIS was arrested on Tuesday, June 24, 2003, in Florida and will be removed to Massachusetts at a later date to appear before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on the charges. If convicted, REIS faces up to 5 years' imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, on each count of the Indictment.

The case was investigated by Special Agents and investigators of the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul G. Levenson in Sullivan's Economic Crimes Unit and Assistant District Attorney Robert Welch in District Attorney O'Keefe's Office.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139