Monmouth County Man Charged With $2M In Tax Evasion

WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ — A Monmouth County man was arrested Friday and charged with tax evasion, U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger announced.

Federal prosecutors says Matthew Tucci, 51, of West Long Branch willfully attempted to evade payment of his 2015 and 2016 taxes. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance Friday afternoon in federal court in Trenton.

Prosecutors say in 2015 and 2016, Tucci received millions of dollars in income from refunds issued by the Customs and Tax Administration of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Tucci subsequently reported on his federal tax returns for those years that he owed over $2 million in taxes based on that income. Despite admitting that he owed those taxes, Tucci failed to fully pay his taxes when they were due.

Instead, Tucci purchased more than $7.6 million worth of real estate and attempted to conceal his assets from the IRS by engaging in a series of fraudulent transactions, many of which were designed to disguise the true ownership of real estate he purchased, say federal prosecutors.

Tucci also made false statements to IRS revenue officers and failed to disclose material facts to the IRS concerning his financial resources and his ability and intent to pay his outstanding tax liabilities, said federal agents.

He is facing up to five years in prison and must pay fines if found guilty.