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Anthony Diaz waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stefan R. Underhill to one count of making a false statement to federal agents during an investigation of an employee kickback scheme, said U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Diaz is a co-owner of Advantage Cleaning, which provides custodial services and final cleaning for construction job sites, and he is a manager at Advantage Maintenance Inc., a janitorial cleaning and maintenance service company.
An investigation found that undocumented employees of both companies were required to kick back a large portion of the money they received for work they performed on prevailing wage jobs to Diaz. Employees who were paid $37 to $41 per hour would cash their paychecks and return $25 for each our worked to Diaz.
On Sept. 26, 2014, Diaz was interviewed by special agents from the U.S. Department of Labor and the IRS.
During the interview, he was questioned about cash kickbacks and whether Advantage Cleaning or Advantage Maintenance had employed any undocumented workers. Diaz denied all of the allegations against him and made several false statements.
In pleading guilty, Diaz admitted that he had received cash kickbacks from his employees.
When he is sentenced Jan. 10, Diaz faces a maximum of five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of Inspector General, and the IRS – Criminal Investigation Division. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Douglas P. Morabito.
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