Odessa Businessman Sentenced to Federal Prison for Money Laundering and Tax Evasion

In Midland today, a federal judge sentenced 40-year-old Jose Abelardo Dominguez to three years in federal prison for his role in money laundering and tax evasion schemes, announced U.S. Attorney John F. Bash; FBI Special Agent in Charge Emmerson Buie, Jr., El Paso Division; Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Special Agent in Charge D. Richard Goss, Houston Field Office; Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Jack P. Staton, El Paso Division; and, Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steven McCraw.

In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge David Counts ordered that Dominguez pay $1,971,072.45 in restitution to the IRS, a $10,000 fine and a money judgement in the amount of $5,088,507.98.  Judge Counts further ordered Dominguez to forfeit to the Government seven real estate properties in Ector and Midland counties; approximately $375,000 in U.S. currency seized from various bank accounts; approximately $140,000 in U.S. Currency seized from two of his Odessa properties; and, four vehicles.  Judge Counts also ordered that Dominguez be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing her prison term.

According to court records, an investigation conducted by the FBI, IRS-CI, HSI, and Texas DPS revealed that Dominguez operated an illegal sports wagering enterprise from 2011 to 2016.  Dominguez provided gamblers opportunities to place bets using websites www.betvegas365.com (link is external) and www.1betvegas.com (link is external).  Gambling debts owed to Dominguez were usually paid through U.S. currency, checks, wire transfers or direct deposits into one of several bank accounts controlled by Dominguez.  Dominguez used those funds to purchase real property and vehicles or to fund business ventures.  Dominguez created two businesses—Peps Properties in June 2011 and Permian Basin Consulting, LLC in January 2014—and used them and their corresponding business bank accounts to launder proceeds from his sports wagering operation and conceal the source and/or nature of those proceeds.  In 2014, Dominguez received in excess of $2.3 million dollars in gambling proceeds.

On June 19, 2018, Dominguez pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering and one count of tax evasion.  By pleading guilty, Dominguez admitted that in August 2014, he engaged in a monetary transaction with criminally derived proceeds.  Dominguez also admitted that he provided a federal income tax return for 2014 in which he falsely underreported his taxable income as $63,496.

Assistant U.S. Attorney William F. Lewis prosecuted this case on behalf of the Government.