An Aurora businessman who ran both a Denver liquor store and a drain-contracting outfit has admitted he lied to the IRS, in a tax case prosecutors say left about $2.2 million in federal taxes unpaid. Manuel Rocha pleaded guilty this week to a federal charge of filing a false personal tax return and is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 25.
According to federal prosecutors, court documents show Rocha spent years masking the true earnings of his businesses by feeding bad information into his tax returns. From 2015 through 2022, he provided false records to his tax preparers and diverted some business receipts into additional bank accounts to keep that income off the books, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Local coverage has highlighted just how big the gap was between what Rocha reported and what prosecutors say he really took in. For 2021, Rocha told the IRS his liquor store and drain business together brought in $57,907, while federal estimates peg the true gross receipts at about $691,650 that year, a difference that helps explain the roughly $2.2 million tax-loss figure, as reported by the Denver Gazette. The outlet reports the underreporting covers eight tax years, from 2015 through 2022.
What prosecutors say
In court, prosecutors said Rocha ran his scheme by routing business income into extra bank accounts and then handing his tax preparer records that left out the diverted cash. That is the conduct the government says produced the alleged tax loss. Trial attorneys David F. Scollan and Megan E. Wessel are handling the prosecution, and the IRS Criminal Investigation led the case, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Business records and licensing
Public records line up with the businesses named in the federal filings. State tobacco-license data list “ROCHA'S LIQUOR, INC,” doing business as Viejo Liquor at 3935 North Quebec Street, according to the State of Colorado license list. Federal carrier records show Rocha's Drain Systems with a Denver street address and an Aurora mailing address, per FMCSA records.
Legal implications
The charge Rocha admitted to, filing a false tax return, is a felony that carries a maximum of three years in prison and potential financial penalties under federal tax law, according to federal tax-enforcement guidance from the IRS. A judge will decide his punishment on Aug. 25 after weighing the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with other factors laid out in federal law.
