Three Members of Jersey City Family Sentenced for Their Roles in a $573,000 Bogus Homestead Rebate Applications Scam

TRENTON, NJ – September 16, 2008 – (RealEstateRama) — Attorney General Anne Milgram announced that three Jersey City siblings have been sentenced for aiding their father and his business partner in stealing $573,383 from the state by filing fraudulent applications for 745 Homestead Rebate checks.

Amorito “Angelo” A. Amante, 34, and Aloysius M. Amante, 33, were ordered by Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta in Mercer County on Friday, Sept. 12, to serve five years in state prison. Amorito Amante was ordered to pay $80,173 in restitution while Aloysius Amante was ordered to pay $40,794 in restitution. The defendants pleaded guilty on March 3 to theft by deception. In addition, Aristides Amante, 29, was ordered to serve five years probation conditioned on serving 30 days in the sheriff’s labor program and to pay $78,000 in restitution, of which he provided $25,000 at the time of sentencing. The sentence was pursuant to his Sept. 10, 2007 guilty plea to theft by deception.

Matilda Amante Ramos, 57, one of the Amantes’ three co-defendants, pleaded guilty on June 11 to theft by deception and was subsequently ordered to serve five years probation and to pay $35,851 in restitution. Charges against the Amantes’ father, Achilles “Butz” Amante, 56, and Paul Sarris, 51, and are still pending. Sarris is currently incarcerated in Mercer County jail in lieu of $500,000 bail. A bench warrant has been issued for Butz Amante.

Matilda Amante Ramos ran a travel agency, while all of the other defendants operated their own financial service companies offering tax preparation services. At the guilty plea hearings, the defendants admitted that between August 2001 and September 2003, they allegedly filed 745 false Homestead Rebate applications with the State of New Jersey, including multiple applications for each of 15 residential and commercial addresses they rented in Jersey City. The defendants admitted that they filed the applications using names and Social Security numbers obtained from tax preparation clients, without permission of the clients. The defendants laundered the $573,383 in stolen funds by depositing the rebate checks in various commercial bank accounts maintained for their businesses.

Attorney General Milgram credited the Jersey City Police Department with initiating the investigation after receiving a tip that numerous Homestead Rebate checks addressed to different names were sent to a Jersey City address rented by Sarris and Butz Amante. They referred the case to the New Jersey Division of Taxation – Office of Criminal Investigation, which conducted an audit that identified hundreds of fraudulent rebate applications linked to the defendants. The Division of Taxation brought the Division of Criminal Justice into the investigation.

Deputy Attorney General Denise Grugan represented the Division of Criminal Justice at the guilty pleas and sentencings. The investigation was conducted by Auditors Kevin Curry and Debra Lewaine of the Division of Taxation – Office of Criminal Investigation.

For Further Information:
Division of Criminal Justice
609-292-4791