A Honduran citizen living in the US illegally has been sentenced to eight years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar payroll tax fraud scheme that cost the US government millions of dollars, the New York Post reports.Mario Flores was sentenced Wednesday after admitting to participating in a conspiracy that helped businesses avoid taxes and enabled undocumented workers to be hired through an illegal cash-based system.Flores worked with his girlfriend and others to create shell companies in Orlando, Florida that ran unlicensed cash courier and check cashing services for construction contractors and subcontractors.The scheme allowed the group to cash approximately $89 million in checks between 2015 and 2022, while keeping the operations off the books and charging a fee for their services. The contractors then paid the workers in cash without withholding payroll taxes or complying with employment laws. Flores personally benefited from at least $9.4 million in the scheme.His girlfriend, Iris Villafranca, was sentenced in April to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $38 million in restitution. Two other co-conspirators, Osman Zapata and Francisco Álvarez, also received four years in prison and probation along with financial penalties.Flores pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money remittance business. Prosecutors accused him of trying to hinder the investigation by providing false documents and misleading federal agents.The sentencing memorandum states that Flores “tried to deceive investigators by submitting fake receipt books to support false tax returns filed by shell companies with the Internal Revenue Service, and produced those fake receipt books in response to grand jury subpoenas.”It said he also lied to investigators during an interview with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).“Villafranca repeatedly texted Flores before meeting with Internal Revenue Service special agents. He then lied to special agents about his and Villafranca’s role in the scheme.Authorities said the operation was a clear example of how illicit financial networks can operate alongside undocumented labor systems.“This case highlights how unchecked illegal immigration fuels widespread payroll tax fraud and underground economies that harm American workers and taxpayers,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department’s National Fraud Enforcement Division said in a statement.