New Jersey Longshoreman Sentenced for Tax Fraud

A New Jersey man was sentenced yesterday to 29 months in prison for evading taxes and not filing income tax returns.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Jonathan Michael worked as a crane mechanic in the machine shop at the Port Newark Container Terminal. In 2014, after decades of filing tax returns and paying his taxes, Michael gave his employer a fraudulent IRS Form W-4, Employee Withholding Allowance Certificate, that claimed he was exempt from any federal income tax withholding. From 2014 through 2021, Michael did not file tax returns or pay any tax, even though he earned over $2.5 million in wages.

According to evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Michael's conduct resulted in a tax loss to the IRS of $656,740.

In addition to his prison sentence, Judge Stephanos Bibas of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, sitting by designation, ordered Michael to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $378,844 in restitution to the United States.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorney Michael C. Vasiliadis of the Tax Division prosecuted the case.