NEWARK, N.J. – A Middlesex County man was charged with participating in a conspiracy to defraud Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and another national transportation and logistics company through overbilling for trucking services, Acting U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna announced.
Jose Pena, 46, of Monroe Township, New Jersey was charged by complaint with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jessica S. Allen in Newark federal court.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Pena owned and operated a trucking firm that subcontracted with a national transportation and logistics company (referred to in the Complaint as “Company-1”) to provide delivery services in the New Jersey/New York metropolitan area for Williams-Sonoma, Inc., a publicly-traded home goods company, out of Williams-Sonoma’s distribution center in Cranbury, New Jersey. From approximately June 2018 through September 2020, Pena conspired with others who worked at Williams-Sonoma and Company-1, among others, to overbill the victim companies for over $3.6 million in fabricated deliveries and services that Pena and his firm did not complete. In exchange for his co-conspirators’ participation in the scheme, Pena paid to them lavish kickbacks, including cash, checks, a sport utility vehicle, and a Rolex watch.
After an internal audit revealed the fraud and the victim companies no longer wished to contract with Pena, Pena hid his interest in another trucking firm that contracted directly with Williams-Sonoma in September 2021. Pena continued to work with a subset of his co-conspirators to overbill Williams-Sonoma for fabricated deliveries through June 2024, resulting in nearly $1 million in additional losses to Williams-Sonoma.
Two of Pena’s co-conspirators, Raymond DeLeon and Cintia Elaxcar, pleaded guilty last month for participating in this conspiracy in their capacities as former employees of Company-1.
Raymond DeLeon, 38, of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on January 3, 2025 before Judge Zahid N. Quraishi in Trenton federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. DeLeon worked as an operations general manager for Company-1 and received over $200,000 in kickback payments in exchange for his role in causing the fraudulent billing requests to be submitted to the victim companies.
Cintia Elaxcar, 40, of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, pleaded guilty on January 15, 2025 before Judge Quraishi in Trenton federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Elaxcar worked as a billing and dispatch manager for Company-1 and received over $435,000 in kickback payments in exchange for her role in causing the fraudulent billing requests to be submitted to the victim companies.
The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud – which Pena is charged with and which DeLeon and Elaxcar have each pleaded guilty to – carries a maximum penalty of twenty years in prison. It also carries a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from the offense, whichever is greatest.
Acting U.S. Attorney Khanna credited special agents of the United States Secret Service, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron Hatley, with the investigation.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Stern of the Opioid Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Unit in Newark.
The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Defense counsel:
Michael Critchley, Esq. for Pena
Nicholas Moschella, Esq. for DeLeon
Maria Noto, Esq. for Elaxcar