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Press Release

Former Miami-Dade County Employee Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

A Coral Gables, Florida resident and former Miami-Dade County General Services Administration (GSA) employee pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

Jesus Pons pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  According to the information, Pons was a computer services manager at the GSA of Miami-Dade County responsible for managing and allocating resources to information technology projects for Miami-Dade County.  According to court filings, he was also responsible for supervising and managing tasks performed by county vendors.  From 2007 to 2011, Pons received money in the form of illegal kickback payments from county vendors Data Industries and Paradyne Consulting Services (Paradyne).  In exchange for these illegal kickbacks, Pons approved payments from Miami-Data County to Data Industries and Paradyne for consulting work that was never done.  According to the plea agreement, Pons did not report the illegal kickbacks on his tax returns.  From 2007 through 2011, Pons earned income from the scheme in the amount of $1,666,998 that he did not report to the IRS, causing a tax loss of $556,254.

Pons faces up to a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison at his sentencing on Dec. 17.

This case was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation.  It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jeffrey McLellan and Erin Pulice of the Tax Division.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division website.

Updated October 15, 2014

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Press Release Number: 14-1129