Kissimmee Businessman Pleads Guilty To Stealing Millions Of Government Funds

Orlando, FL - United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that Edwin Rivera today pleaded guilty to theft of government property. Rivera faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

According to the plea agreement, between October 2023 and July 2024, Rivera and his co-conspirators operated a scheme to steal government funds. As part of the scheme, Rivera stole the identity of large corporations and filed fraudulent tax returns with the IRS on behalf of those companies, causing the IRS to generate tax refunds and mail them to Rivera. Rivera then deposited the checks into bank accounts he and his co-conspirators controlled. As part of this scheme, Rivera obtained at least four fraudulent tax refunds for a total of $2,741,581.74.

This case was investigated by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the Internal Revenue Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Noah P. Dorman.