NC Insurance Agent with Multiple Businesses Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

A North Carolina insurance agent has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and could face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, a federal prosecutor said Wednesday.

Arturo Barcenas Gonzalez, is owner of Barcenas Insurance Agency and Barcenas Financial Services in Cary, North Carolina, near Raleigh. He was arrested in 2023 after an investigation and search of his businesses found that the agency operated a cash-based enterprise that registered and titled vehicles on behalf of undocumented aliens, through the use of assumed business names, the U.S. Attorney for Eastern North Carolina said in a statement.

Barcenas filed false information on his 2017 tax return and did not report more than $300,000 in revenue that year, the prosecutor said. The false filings continued through 2022, according to the criminal information sheet filed in federal court, and, altogether, Barcenas skipped more than $1 million in tax payments.

“The vast majority of American taxpayers pay their fair share in taxes, supporting our nation’s infrastructure, innovation, and military,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Easley. “Meanwhile, Barcenas failed to file any federal tax return for years while he padded his personal accounts with money from his businesses.”

National Association of Insurance Commissioners records show that Barcenas had an active license and was approved as a property, casualty, accident, health and life insurance producer in North Carolina. He had been appointed with more than 30 carriers this year, including some of the largest U.S. p/c insurers.

His Linkedin page and the North Carolina Secretary of State show that he also was owner of a construction company in Cary and a western wear clothing shop in Raleigh.

A sentencing date for Barcenas has not been set.