United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg has announced that Edwin Rivera, a businessman from Kissimmee, Florida, has pleaded guilty to theft of government property. Rivera is facing a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. The date for sentencing has not yet been determined.

The plea agreement reveals that between October 2023 and July 2024, Rivera and his associates engaged in a scheme to defraud the government. They stole the identities of large corporations and filed false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under those companies' names. This led to the IRS issuing tax refunds which were then mailed to Rivera. He subsequently deposited these checks into bank accounts controlled by him and his co-conspirators. Through this fraudulent activity, Rivera secured at least four tax refunds totaling $2,741,581.74.

The investigation was conducted by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration along with the Internal Revenue Service. Assistant United States Attorney Noah P. Dorman is handling the prosecution of this case.