Treasury employee and businessman plead guilty to tax fraud of $665,693 in Puerto Rico
Harry Muriel-Falero and Gabrielle López-Berríos admitted to participating in an electronic fraud and bribery scheme against the Treasury Department. Sentencing is scheduled for October 2026.
Two defendants admit fraud and bribery against Puerto Rico treasury for $665,693
A Treasury Department employee and a businessman pleaded guilty on 20 July 2026 to participating in an electronic fraud and bribery scheme that caused losses of approximately $665,693 in tax revenue to the Government of Puerto Rico, according to metro.pr citing the Federal Prosecutors Office for the District of Puerto Rico.
Harry E. Muriel-Falero, a Treasury Department employee, admitted to conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. Businessman Gabrielle López-Berríos acknowledged his participation in the same conspiracy and in a separate bribery scheme involving another agency official. Both had been charged by indictment on 23 October 2025 and arrested on 29 October of that year.
Privileged access to the GenTax/SURI system
According to case documents, between June 2023 and December 2024, Muriel-Falero worked as an employee and agent of the Treasury Department with privileged access to the GenTax/SURI system. From that platform, he could review and modify taxpayer information, create tax credits and alter data on contributions relating to income, payroll withholding and sales taxes.
The defendant accepted cash payments and other benefits in exchange for entering false information into the system to eliminate tax debts, facilitate tax evasion and illegally appropriate public funds. Authorities estimate the total damage to the Treasury Department amounts to approximately $665,693.
Businessman bribed two Treasury employees
López-Berríos, a Puerto Rico resident and owner of several businesses, acted at different stages of the scheme. In April 2024, he delivered cash through an intermediary so that Muriel-Falero would alter his personal tax forms and reduce or eliminate tax obligations, causing losses of more than $11,192 to the treasury.
Additionally, he admitted to making illegal payments between November 2021 and April 2023 through an intermediary to a second Treasury Department employee to benefit his companies G Fitness & Body Performance LLC and VEEVO LLC, eliminating or reducing corporate debts of approximately $18,671 by introducing false data into the same system.
Sentencing scheduled for October 2026
Muriel-Falero's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 October 2026, and López-Berríos's hearing for 16 October of the same year. Both will be held before federal judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández.
The investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the case is being prosecuted by assistant federal prosecutor Marie Christine Amy, of the Financial Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the federal prosecutors office in Puerto Rico.
Part of a broader operation against corruption in Treasury
Authorities indicated that this case is part of a continuing effort to combat public corruption in the Treasury Department. In October 2025, 26 individuals and corporations linked to the same scheme were charged. On 2 July 2026, another agency employee, Luis A. Jiménez-Guzmán, also pleaded guilty to participating in a bribery conspiracy that caused approximately $5 million in losses to the treasury.
Source: Google News PR — Crime