Two Absecon men admit to conspiring to defraud the IRS

Date: Dec. 22, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

Camden, NJ – Two Absecon men admitted to conspiring with each other to defraud the Internal Revenue Service by filing false tax returns that concealed their motels’ cash payroll, Senior Counsel Philip Lamparello announced.

Dhruvesh Patel and Mayank Ray, both of Absecon, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Christine P. O’Hearn to information charging each with one count of conspiring to defraud the IRS.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Patel and Ray operated two motels in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Their motels generated substantial gross receipts from customers who paid for their motel rooms in cash. As part of the conspiracy, Patel and Ray used a large portion of the cash to pay employees in cash and kept some of the resulting cash for personal use. Patel and Ray caused to be prepared and filed with the IRS false employment tax returns that concealed the cash wages and false individual income tax returns that underreported the income they earned from the motels. Patel admitted that the conspiracy and his relevant conduct caused a loss greater than $250,000, and Ray admitted that the conspiracy and his relevant conduct caused a loss of approximately $129,512.

The count of conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentencing for both Patel and Ray are scheduled for May 11, 2026.

Senior Counsel Lamparello credited special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s guilty pleas.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Bender of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Camden.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement 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. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.