A former Freeport tax preparer who once ran out of two storefronts on Long Island was sentenced Thursday to four years in federal prison for orchestrating a tax and pandemic loan fraud scheme that siphoned more than $11 million from the federal government. U.S. District Judge Sanket J. Bulsara ordered 59-year-old Damaris Beltre to serve 48 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and to pay about $11.6 million in restitution.
The sentence, handed down in federal court in Central Islip, falls well short of the seven-year term prosecutors had asked for. According to Newsday, Judge Bulsara granted the lighter four-year term after weighing Beltre's past personal hardships and what the outlet described as her exemplary conduct while detained at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where she had been held since her arrest in March 2025.
U.S. Attorney EDNY, in a post announced jointly with IRS Criminal Investigation
, did not mince words about the scheme. United States Attorney Nocella stated that Beltre conducted a massive fraud on the government by falsifying documents and lying to obtain taxpayer money. The office added that the sentencing should serve as a warning to corrupt tax preparers, declaring that federal programs and the treasury are not ATMs that they can loot with impunity, and that the price for such brazen conduct is a prison sentence.
A Scheme Built on Fake Returns and Phantom Employees
Beltre pleaded guilty on January 28 to two counts of wire fraud and one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service. From January 2021 through April 2024, she operated Freeport financial service businesses where she personally prepared or directed employees to prepare more than 800 false returns claiming fraudulent COVID-19 and motor fuel tax credits, collecting over $1 million in client fees in the process.
Those fraudulent filings led to nearly $11 million in improper refunds being issued to clients, while several million dollars in tax liabilities went uncollected, the IRS said. The operation involved Freeport corporate entities including L&D Tax & Multi Service Corp. and Botanica El Poder De San Miguel. The IRS also said Beltre filed false payroll reports and tax returns on behalf of corporate clients seeking PPP loans.
PPP Funds Spent on a Home Abroad and a New SUV
In a parallel scheme, Beltre admitted to filing false applications to obtain nearly $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans. She used the money to make a $22,500 payment on a home in the Dominican Republic, spent about $16,000 on a vehicle, and bought jewelry, prosecutors said. The PPP program had been created by Congress to keep small business workers employed during pandemic shutdowns.
Beltre went to jail in March 2025, the outlet reported. She remained held at MDC Brooklyn from her arrest straight through sentencing. When unsealed, her initial indictment contained 42 counts, including aggravated identity theft and money laundering, which exposed her to a potential maximum sentence of up to 53 years in prison before her plea deal.
Part of a Wider Regional Crackdown
The investigation that led to Beltre's conviction was a joint effort by IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's New York Field Office, the Small Business Administration, and the Freeport Police Department, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The investigation involved federal agencies alongside the Freeport Police Department.
Beltre's case is far from isolated. She is among at least 36 to 47 Long Island residents federally charged in COVID-19 relief fraud cases, which collectively involve more than $93 million in stolen emergency aid across the region, per Newsday's reporting. A separate Yonkers tax-fraud plea involved nearly $6 million.
