Monmouth Beach Man Convicted Of $39M Fraud, Plus Tax Evasion

MONMOUTH BEACH, NJ — First, he stole millions. Then he failed to pay taxes on it.

A classic tale played out in Monmouth Beach this November, where a local man was convicted on five counts of tax evasion for his role in a $39-million investment scam he ran with Manalapan and Staten Island men, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced Nov. 17.

The man is Joseph Cammarata, 49, pictured here. On Nov. 15, a jury in Trenton federal court found him guilty for five counts of tax evasion, following a two-week trial. Cammarata was previously convicted in Pennsylvania for conspiracy to commit wire fraud/mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

Monmouth Beach is a small, wealthy beachfront town in Monmouth County; former lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno hails from there.

Cammarata was convicted alongside two other men, David Punturieri, 42, of Staten Island and Erik Cohen, 41, of Manalapan. All three men were principals of Alpha Plus Recovery, a claims aggregator firm based in Old Bridge.

Punturieri and Cohen previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, fraud and money laundering.

U.S. Attorneys say Cammarata, Punturieri and Cohen used Alpha Plus Recovery in a sophisticated financial fraud scheme: They invented fake claims to collect from securities fraud class-action settlements and SEC enforcement actions. They falsely claimed that corporate clients of Alpha Plus Recovery had purchased shares of securities that were the subject of lucrative lawsuit settlements.

In reality, their clients had not purchased the securities and thus were not entitled to any settlement money. The three men created fake brokerage and other financial documents to provide to claims administrators.

From 2015 to 2019, Cammarata and his partners stole more than $39 million. Cammarata personally made more than $18 million from the scheme, which he failed to pay taxes on, said prosecutors. He hid the income from his accountant.

Federal prosecutors say Cammarata used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle, including the use of private jets, expensive homes, luxury cars and yachts. He even owned a private island, "Sandy Cay" in the Bahamas, the FBI said previously.

In Pennsylvania, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the fraud charges. He will face additional prison time for his new convictions last week in New Jersey.

“This defendant has now been convicted by two separate juries of serious crimes,” U.S. Attorney Sellinger said. “First, he was convicted by a jury in Philadelphia federal court for his role in a scheme to defraud investors out of millions of dollars. Now, a Trenton jury has convicted him of hiding from the IRS the more than $16 million he pocketed as he tried to avoid paying his fair share of taxes. Cammarata will now be held to account for his crimes at sentencing.”

Sentencing in New Jersey has not yet been scheduled.

Prior Patch reporting on Joseph Cammarata of Monmouth Beach:

Monmouth Beach Man Convicted In $43M Finance Fraud Scheme (Oct. 2022)

Monmouth Beach Man Indicted On Securities Fraud Charges (Dec. 2021)