The operator of a Wall Township engineering consultation company has a January 5 sentencing date for paying workers under the table and short-changing New Jersey's unemployment insurance system.

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In a Trenton federal courtroom, Lino DeAlmeida Jr., 68, of Point Pleasant, admitted organizing a scheme that allowed his four employees to collect unemployment payouts totalling $130,363 while he paid the balance of their wages in beginning in July 2011. It continued until January 2013,  according to information from the office of New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman.

DeAlmeida, operator of Consolidated Construction Management Services, acknowledged also that he skipped payroll tax contributions amounting to $109,068 on unreported wages of $790,860.

He accepted a guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to defraud the New Jersey State Division of Unemployment Insurance (NJUI) and one count of failing to collect Social Security, Medicare and income payroll taxes.

For the unemployment fraud charge, DeAlmeida risks a prison term of up to 20 years and a fine up to $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss connected to the offense. The charge of failing to collect payroll taxes could mean another five years and an identical fine.

Investigators said that DeAlmeida cited financial difficulties in a discussion with workers in late 2011, telling them that he could no longer afford to pay them. Authorities said that he suggested that they file for unemployment benefits and would pay the balance of their wages. Three agreed and filed false applications, authorities said.

 

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