Tax Fraud: Treasury Employee and Businessman Plead Guilty to $665,693 Fraud Scheme
Harry Muriel-Falero and Gabrielle López-Berríos admitted to altering data in the SURI system in exchange for bribes to reduce tax debts.
Two Accused Admit Conspiracy to Defraud Puerto Rico Treasury
A Treasury Department employee and a businessman pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in an electronic fraud and bribery scheme that caused approximately $665,693 in losses to Puerto Rico's treasury, according to metro.pr on Tuesday citing the Federal Prosecutors' Office for the District of Puerto Rico.
Harry E. Muriel-Falero, a Treasury Department employee, pleaded guilty on 20 July 2026 to conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. Meanwhile, businessman Gabrielle López-Berríos admitted his participation in that same conspiracy and in a second bribery scheme targeting another department official. Both had been charged by criminal complaint on 23 October 2025 and arrested six days later.
According to case documents, Muriel-Falero exploited his privileged access to the GenTax/SURI system between June 2023 and December 2024, a period during which he was able to review and modify taxpayer data, create tax credits and alter information relating to income, employer withholding and sales tax. In exchange for cash payments and other benefits, he entered false information into the platform to eliminate or reduce tax debts, facilitate tax evasion and unlawfully appropriate public funds.
López-Berríos, a Puerto Rico resident and owner of several businesses, negotiated and delivered cash in April 2024 — through an intermediary — so that Muriel-Falero would alter his personal tax returns and reduce his tax obligations. That part of the scheme caused losses exceeding $11,192 to the treasury.
The businessman also admitted to participating in a separate bribery scheme to benefit his companies, G Fitness & Body Performance LLC and VEEVO LLC. Between November 2021 and April 2023, he made unlawful payments through an intermediary to a second Treasury Department employee to eliminate or reduce corporate debts of approximately $18,671, likewise through manipulations of the GenTax/SURI system.
Muriel-Falero's sentencing hearing was set for 9 October 2026, and López-Berríos's for 16 October 2026, both before federal judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández.
The investigation is being carried out by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Federal Prosecutor Marie Christine Amy, from the Financial Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the federal prosecutors' office in Puerto Rico.
Authorities noted that the proceeding is part of a continuing effort against corruption within the Treasury Department. In October 2025, a total of 26 people and corporations were charged in connection with the same scheme. On 2 July 2026, another department employee, Luis A. Jiménez-Guzmán, also pleaded guilty to participating in a bribery conspiracy that generated losses of approximately $5 million to the treasury.
Source: Google News PR — Crime