Three Plead Guilty in Federal Crackdown on Treasury Check Fraud

BOSTON - Three individuals pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to separate charges relating to the theft of U.S. Treasury tax refund checks in Massachusetts.

• Domingo Villari, 49, of Framingham, Mass. pleaded guilty to one count of theft of government money, one count of bank fraud and seven counts of money laundering;
• Gurprit Singh, 34, of Framingham, Mass. pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, four counts of theft of government money, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of money laundering conspiracy; and
• Amarpreet Singh, 33, of New Jersey, pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of theft of government money and one count of bank fraud.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencings for Dec. 16, Dec. 22, and Dec. 22, 2025, respectively. The defendants were charged separately in June 2025 along with five others as part of an investigation into the theft of U.S. Treasury tax refund checks in Massachusetts. According to the charging documents, the defendants separately obtained a combined total of over $4.36 million in tax refund checks that had been forged as payable to their respective companies.

Specifically, Villari was the sole owner and officer of Flipp Construction LLC, a construction company in Framingham. In March 2024, Villari obtained a tax refund check that the U.S. Treasury had issued to a German company, which had been altered to be payable to Villari's business. Villari deposited the check into an account he controlled and thereby stole $1,288,575 from the U.S. Treasury.

Gurprit Singh was the sole officer of a purported Massachusetts business called Café H, Inc. Although the business had never filed a tax return of any kind, Gurprit Singh deposited four tax refund checks between January and June 2024, purportedly payable to his business. However, the checks had actually been issued to other companies and altered to be payable to Gurprit Singh's business. As a result, Singh stole a total of $2,547,508 from the U.S. Treasury.

In April 2024, Amarpreet Singh opened a business checking account in the name of Beattie Roofing, Inc., and listed herself as the company's sole owner. In May 2024, Amarpreet Singh deposited a $536,214 U.S. Treasury Check payable to the roofing company at a bank in Shrewsbury, Mass. However, the check had been issued to a financial trust in California, not to the roofing company.

Each defendant also then used a company bank account to launder the stolen funds, typically using cashier's checks made payable to other sham businesses in Massachusetts.

The charge of theft of government funds provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of wire fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of bank fraud provides for a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, five of supervised release and a fine of up to $1 million. The charge of money laundering provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three of supervised release and a fine of $500,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Michael Carpenter, Treasury Inspector General; and Ketty Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Boston Division made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by the Needham Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kriss Basil, Deputy Chief of the Securities, Financial and Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the cases.