SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – On July 20, 2026, Harry E. Mueriel-Falero, a Puerto Rico Department of Treasury (Departamento de Hacienda or “PRDT”) employee pleaded guilty to his intentional participating in a wire fraud conspiracy involving the loss of approximately $665,693 in Puerto Rico tax revenue, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1349. Business owner Gabrielle López-Berríos, pleaded guilty to participating in the same wire fraud conspiracy and a conspiracy to bribe a separate Hacienda employee, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 666. The defendants were indicted on October 23, 2025, and arrested on October 29, 2025.
According to the plea agreement in the case of Harry E. Mueriel-Falero, he knowingly and willfully conspired to commit wire fraud to defraud the PRDT by creating and submitting false information in the tax returns of several individuals and entities to eliminate or reduce tax debts with the PRDT or illegally claim tax refunds. From June 2023 through December 2024, Muriel-Falero was an employee and agent of the PRDT with duties that included physically and electronically accessing and reviewing tax returns and documents related to invoicing and collection of owed taxes. The defendant had privileged access to the PRDT’s online platform, the Internal Revenue Unified System (GenTax/SURI) and was experienced and able to access, monitor, and modify taxpayer information, including creating taxpayer credits, modifying income tax, employee retention tax and sales tax information.As part of the conspiracy, Muriel-Falero corruptly solicited and accepted cash payments and other benefits, in exchange for submitting false information to the PRDT.
The false information was submitted to the PRDT for the elimination of taxes owed, evasion of taxes, and theft of funds, with a total approximate loss to the PRDT of $665,693. One of the individuals Muriel-Falero conspired with was defendant Gabrielle López-Berríos, a Puerto Rico resident and business owner. In April 2024, defendant Gabrielle López-Berríos negotiated and paid defendant Muriel-Falero money in cash through Person A to create and submit false information in López-Berríos personal tax returns to eliminate and reduce tax debts with the PRDT resulting in an approximate loss to the PRDT exceeding $11,192. In addition to illegally obtaining personal tax relief through defendant Muriel-Falero, defendant Gabrielle López-Berríos also participated in a bribery conspiracy to obtain illegal tax relief for his companies, G FITNESS & BODY PERFORMANCE LLC and VEEVO LLC.
Defendant López-Berríos paid money in bribes and kickbacks through Person A to a separate Hacienda employee in exchange for creating and submitting materially false information into PRDT’s GenTaxSURI system for the elimination of corporate taxes owed, evasion of taxes, and theft of funds. From November 2021 through April 2023, defendant López-Berríos made bribe payments to illegally erase and reduce a tax debt of his companies of approximately $18,671. The sentencing hearing for defendant Muriel-Falero and defendant López-Berríos were scheduled for October 9, 2026, and October 16, 2026, respectively, by District Judge Pedro A. Delgado-Hernández.The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Marie Christine Amy from the District of Puerto Rico’s Financial Fraud & Public Corruption Section is prosecuting the case. This case is part of an ongoing effort to combat public corruption and fraud committed by Puerto Rico Department of Treasury employees. The U.S.
Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico announced the indictment of twenty-six individuals and corporations in this bribery and wire fraud scheme in October 2025 and the July 2, 2026 guilty plea of Luis A. Jiménez-Guzmán, an Hacienda employee who admitted to participating in a similar bribery conspiracy involving the loss of approximately $5,000,000. ###