August 5, 2022

United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Raul Solis has pleaded guilty to conspiring defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and to unlawfully employ workers who were neither lawfully admitted to, nor authorized to be employed in, the United States. His son, Raul Solis-Martinez pleaded guilty to the same charge on July 27, 2022. Both face a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.

According to their plea agreements, Solis and Solis-Martinez owned and operated Solis Brothers Company, LLC and Duval Framing, LLC, which are construction subcontracting companies in Jacksonville, Florida. To illicitly lower labor costs, they conspired with each other (and the owner of another contractor, H&S Framing, LLC) to pay their employees partially “off the books.” By paying employees with a mix of checks and cash, the conspirators avoided withholding the full amount of payroll taxes owed to the IRS. Between 2014 and 2019, Solis and Solis-Martinez’s workers received approximately $22,186,096.35 in wages that were never reported to the IRS and from which no taxes were withheld. This practice led to a loss to the U.S. Treasury of approximately $5,613,082.38.

Further, by misrepresenting how much their employees were working, Solis and Solis-Martinez also defrauded the company that managed their payroll functions, as well as their workers compensation insurer, both of which relied on the conspirators’ false payroll reporting to calculate the cost of their services. In addition, Solis and Solis-Martinez knew that many of their employees had emigrated to the United States illegally or were otherwise not authorized to work here. Some workers had been previously deported from the United States, only to return and work for Solis and Solis-Martinez.

Both have agreed pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $5,613,082.38.

This case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, and the Florida Department of Financial Services. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael J. Coolican.