Bergen County Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling Money From Guided Tour Company And Subscribing To False Tax Returns

NEWARK, N.J. - A Lyndhurst, New Jersey woman admitted to her participation in a multi-year embezzlement scheme and to subscribing to a false personal income tax return, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced today.

Ruby Baroni, 54, of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, pleaded guilty today by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Julien Xavier Neals to a two-count information charging her with one count of wire fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Between October 2010 and August 2016, Baroni held an accounting position at a New Jersey guided-tour company. In that capacity, Baroni had authority to cut checks against the company's bank accounts. During that period, Baroni and Estela Laluf, a manager at the company, devised a scheme to embezzle funds from the company. Laluf would direct Baroni to cut company checks to actual company employees and contractors, which did not reflect any actual work or services done by those individuals. Baroni would then cash these checks, and Laluf and Baroni would then convert the resulting funds to their personal use. In this way, Laluf and Baroni embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company. Baroni then fraudulently omitted the proceeds from the embezzlement scheme from her tax year 2016 tax return. Laluf pleaded guilty before Judge Neals to a separate information related to the scheme on September 20, 2021.

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charge of subscribing to a false tax return carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled before Judge Neals for January 25, 2022.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited special agents of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raiumundo Marrero, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez, with the investigation leading to today's guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew M. Trombly of the Cybercrime Unit in Newark.

Defense counsel: Amie E. DiCola, Esq., Passaic, New Jersey