Date: December 1, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A Massachusetts man was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for evading taxes on income he earned as a commercial fisherman. According to court documents, Joaquin Sosa, of New Bedford, worked as a commercial fisherman and deckhand operating primarily out of the Port of New Bedford. Despite receiving approximately $1.9 million in income between 2012 and 2021, Sosa did not file tax returns reporting the income and did not pay the substantial income taxes owed on the income he earned. Sosa also worked under false identities over the years. To further conceal the source and disposition of his income, Sosa cashed his paychecks from fishing companies at check-cashing businesses, at times using false identities, and used the cash to fund his personal lifestyle. In total, Sosa caused a tax loss to the IRS of $520,415. In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani for the District of Massachusetts ordered Sosa to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $520,415 in restitution to the United States. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department's Tax Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy for the District of Massachusetts made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) investigated the case. Trial Attorney Ezra Spiro and Acting Section Chief John Kane of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Wild for the District of Massachusetts prosecuted the case. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
