The Puerto Rico Department of Treasury headquarters in San Juan, the agency at the center of a widening federal corruption probe that prosecutors say has cost the government more than $14 million in lost tax revenue.
A Puerto Rico Treasury Department employee has admitted taking bribes to erase taxes owed by individuals and businesses, becoming the third agency employee in three months to plead guilty in federal corruption or fraud cases that prosecutors say have collectively cost Puerto Rico more than $14 million in tax revenue.
Alexander Ortiz-Robles was charged by information and pleaded guilty Tuesday to participating in a bribery conspiracy that caused approximately $6.77 million in lost Puerto Rico tax revenue, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico. He is scheduled to be sentenced January 15, 2027 before U.S. District Judge Gina R. Méndez-Miró.
Ortiz-Robles worked for the Puerto Rico Department of Treasury, known as Hacienda, from June 2020 through October 2025. His duties gave him access to tax returns, collection records and the department's internal computer systems, including platforms that allowed authorized employees to create taxpayer credits and modify income-tax, employee-retention-tax and sales-tax information.
Federal prosecutors say Ortiz-Robles abused that access by accepting bribes and other benefits in exchange for entering false information into Treasury systems. Those changes were used to eliminate taxes that individuals and businesses actually owed, help taxpayers evade their obligations and facilitate the theft of government funds.
The government identified several bribe payments received by Ortiz-Robles during the conspiracy: $15,500 in July 2022, $20,000 in December 2023, $60,000 in November 2024 and $6,000 in April 2025. Prosecutors say the payments flowed through third parties who charged customers for illegally reducing their tax debts.
The distinction between the bribes and the government's losses is significant. The $6.77 million figure is not the amount Ortiz-Robles was accused of pocketing; it represents the approximate tax revenue prosecutors say Puerto Rico lost because of the conspiracy.
His guilty plea is the latest development in a much wider federal effort targeting corruption and fraud involving Puerto Rico Treasury employees.
On July 2, Treasury employee Luis A. Jiménez-Guzmán pleaded guilty in a separate bribery conspiracy that prosecutors said caused approximately $5 million in lost tax revenue. Jiménez-Guzmán similarly admitted accepting bribes while using privileged access to Treasury systems to alter taxpayer information.
Then, on July 20, Treasury employee Harry E. Muriel-Falero pleaded guilty to participating in a wire-fraud conspiracy involving approximately $665,640 in lost tax revenue. That prosecution grew out of a sweeping October 2025 indictment charging 26 individuals and companies, including two public officials, over an alleged scheme to improperly eliminate or reduce more than $3.5 million in tax debts.
Many defendants from that case have since pleaded guilty. Federal prosecutors said Wednesday that recently entered guilty pleas encompass business owners, companies and intermediaries whose attributed losses range from thousands of dollars to more than $1.8 million. Sentencings for those defendants are scheduled throughout the remainder of 2026.
A third separate case also advanced this month. Edwin Gómez-Villegas and Brisas BBQ, Inc. pleaded guilty September 2 to participating in another scheme that prosecutors say cost Puerto Rico approximately $23,904 in tax revenue. Both are scheduled to be sentenced December 3.
Taken together, the cases have now crossed a significant threshold. The U.S. Attorney's Office says the losses associated with the Treasury bribery and fraud schemes, including the employees, intermediaries, individuals and companies that have pleaded guilty, exceed $14 million in Puerto Rico tax revenue.
That figure represents money federal prosecutors say should have been collected by the Puerto Rico government but was instead eliminated, reduced or fraudulently diverted through manipulation of its tax systems.
The FBI is investigating the cases, while the Financial Fraud and Public Corruption Section of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico is handling the prosecutions. Federal authorities described the cases as part of an ongoing effort to combat corruption and fraud involving Puerto Rico Treasury employees.
Advertisements
