Date: May 7, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
Newark, NJ — A Passaic County, New Jersey, man was sentenced to 48 months in prison for his role in a $3.5 million payroll tax evasion scheme, U.S. Attorney Alina Habba announced.
Walter Hass, of Hewitt, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Evelyn Padin to an information charging him with failure to collect, account for, and pay over payroll taxes. Judge Padin imposed the sentence in Newark federal court. Hass was also ordered to pay $3,527,645 in restitution.
“Walter Hass spent a decade failing to pay payroll taxes. Instead paying taxes rightfully due to our Country, he chose to keep the money for himself to fund his extravagant lifestyle. We will not tolerate such blatant disrespect for the law. We also have no tolerance for lying to the Court, lying to the Government, or the lying to the U.S. Probation Office,” said U.S. Attorney Alina Habba.
“Employment taxes are crucial for funding federal programs millions of Americans depend on every day. For nearly a decade, Walter Hass chose to fuel his lavish lifestyle over paying these taxes to the IRS, turning his employees into victims along the way,” stated Special Agent in Charge Jenifer L. Piovesan, IRS Criminal Investigation, Newark Field Office. “This sentence showcases IRS-CI’s commitment to accountability and enforcing our laws.”
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Hass was the owner and operator a shipping/logistics company located in Oakland, New Jersey. Since 2014, he has operated the company under three different names. He failed to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over payroll taxes to the IRS on behalf of each of these companies from 2014 to 2022. In total, he failed to pay over to the IRS at least $3.5 million in payroll taxes. Instead of paying over payroll taxes to the IRS, Hass used company money to fund his personal lifestyle, including the purchase of luxury vehicles, including Aston Martins and McClarens, high-end watches and jewelry, designer clothing items and accessories, tickets to sporting events, home renovations, vacations, water sports vehicles, and extravagant meals.
Hass signed his guilty plea in October 2023. He then embarked on a years-long campaign of deceit to avoid accepting responsibility for his conduct. He lied to the Court, to the U.S. Probation Office, and the Government about a purported cancer diagnosis to delay the entry of his guilty plea and the date of his sentencing. In doing so, Hass fabricated three letters from physicians asserting that he had medical conditions—including kidney cancer—that prevented him from attending court proceedings. Hass did not have cancer and attempted to travel throughout the United States and around the world during this time. Only when law enforcement discovered his deception did he ultimately admit to his conduct.
In addition to the prison term and restitution, Judge Padin sentenced Hass to 3 years of supervised release.
U.S. Attorney Habba credited special agents of the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Jenifer Piovesan, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Calle, Acting Chief of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit, and Edeli Rivera of the Special Prosecutions Division in Newark.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative 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 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.