🔹Owed $2M in taxes
🔹Instead, bought $7.6M in real estate
🔹Faces possible prison term
A 52-year-old Monmouth County man who is also the son of a longtime Shore town mayor has pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion.
Matthew Tucci, of West Long Branch, owed more than $2 million in taxes for 2015 and 2016, combined.
He owed that after receiving $11.4 million from “purported refunds” through Denmark’s government tax agency, which is similar to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, according to his federal indictment last year.
He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Trenton in April 2024.
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Instead of fully paying the U.S. taxes owed, Tucci bought more than $7.6 million-worth of real estate and then tried to hide his ownership of the assets.
Tucci continued to control two properties despite claiming otherwise.
He sold one and refinanced the other, federal prosecutors said. Tucci then used that money for other expenses, instead of paying off his taxes and penalties.
NJ man, the son of West Long Branch mayor, admits federal tax evasion
NJ man, the son of West Long Branch mayor, admits federal tax evasion (Google Maps, Canva, Townsquare Media Illustration)
Matthew Tucci was among brokers caught in a massive, $2 billion international tax scam involving Denmark, Asbury Park Press previously reported.
Tucci was scheduled for sentencing on Oct. 9.
He would face a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a period of supervised release, as well as having to pay back outstanding money and other penalties.
West Long Branch Mayor Janet Tucci is a life-long resident of the town and was first elected as mayor in 2005.
The Republican’s current three-year term ends in December 2026.
An emailed request for comment on her son’s conviction was not immediately answered by Mayor Tucci.
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