Damaris Beltre of Freeport, New York pleaded guilty to wire fraud and false tax returns after causing nearly $11 million in improper IRS refunds across a three-year scheme and separately defrauding PPP of approximately $1 million.

Damaris Beltre — Long Island $12M Tax Fraud and PPP Scheme (2021–2024)

Outcome: Beltre pleaded guilty January 28, 2026 to wire fraud and aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns; faces up to 53 years imprisonment and approximately $12 million in restitution.

Damaris Beltre operated a tax preparation business in Freeport, New York and from January 2021 through April 2024 prepared fraudulent individual income tax returns for clients that caused nearly $11 million in improper IRS refunds. The scale of the fraud was dramatic: in an undercover IRS operation, Beltre prepared a return for an agent that generated a refund of over $14,243 when the accurate return would have shown taxes owed of approximately $205. Beltre collected over $1 million in client fees from the scheme.

Separately, from April 2020 through July 2022, Beltre submitted fraudulent PPP loan applications totaling approximately $1 million. She pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Sanket J. Bulsara in the Eastern District of New York on January 28, 2026.

The combined tax-and-PPP fraud pattern is increasingly common among professional tax preparers who recognized that multiple pandemic-era relief programs could be exploited simultaneously. The same client base provided both the tax return fraud targets and the identity information needed for PPP applications.

Primary Source: Long Island Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Nearly $12 Million Tax Fraud Scheme