Union County Man Indicted on Tax and Fraud Charges
NEWARK, N.J. – A Union County, New Jersey, man was indicted today on charges of filing false tax returns, statements, and other documents; failing to file a tax return; wire fraud; and student aid fraud, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
Anthony Salters, 58, of Hillside, New Jersey, was charged by indictment with one count of subscribing to a false tax return for tax year 2013, two counts of subscribing to false tax returns, statements, and other documents for tax years 2014 and 2015, one count of failing to file a tax return for tax year 2016, and four counts of wire fraud and three counts of student aid fraud in connection with student financial aid obtained for his dependent child. No date has been scheduled for Salters’ arraignment.
According to the indictment:
Salters was a principal of Media Allies LLC, a company that purportedly provided public relations services. Salters signed, filed, and caused to be filed with the IRS U.S. Individual Income Tax Returns, Forms 1040, for tax years 2013, 2014 and 2015, each of which contained a written declaration that it was filed under penalties of perjury. Each Form 1040 falsely stated that Salters’ business income was zero and his total income was zero, when, in fact, Salters and Media Allies had substantial gross receipts in tax years 2013 to 2015, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in gross income in 2016, the tax year for which Salters failed to file a tax return.
Salters reported false information about his income in connection with his dependent child’s application for student financial aid. From January 2014 to May 2017, Salters engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States Department of Education, the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, and a university in New Jersey where Salters’ dependent child was an undergraduate, by submitting and causing to be submitted materially false information underreporting Salters’ income, including the information provided in his dependent child’s Free Applications for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSAs.
The count of subscribing to a false tax return, statement, or other document is punishable by a maximum of three years in prison; the count of wire fraud is punishable by a maximum of 20 years in prison; the count of student loan fraud is punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. All three counts are also punishable by a fine of $250,000. The count of failure to file a tax return is punishable by a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.
U.S. Attorney Carpenito credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael Montanez; special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge Joe Denahan in Newark; special agents of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christina Scaringi, and special agents of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Geoff Wood in Philadelphia, with the investigation leading to today’s indictment.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys J Fortier Imbert and Cari Fais of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Special Prosecutions Division.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.