Woburn man charged with evading $1.2 million in income tax

A Woburn man has been indicted on multiple tax charges for allegedly underreporting more than $20 million in business income and evading over $1.2 million in personal income taxes, prosecutors said.

Jean Brito, 47, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Wednesday in Middlesex Superior Court to five counts of tax evasion and five counts of making or subscribing false tax returns related to his business, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan’s office.

Brito was released on conditions that he surrender his passport and not apply for a new one, limit his travel to New England states unless granted court permission, and sign a waiver of rendition, the DA said. His next court date is set for March 18.

Prosecutors say that between 2018 and 2023, Brito owned Boston Quality Cleaning Services, a Medford-based janitorial company, and underreported its income by more than $20 million. Investigators say during that time, Brito also evaded more than $1.2 million in personal income taxes.

Investigators say Brito cashed checks made payable to his company at check-cashing businesses instead of depositing them into the company’s bank account. He is also accused of providing incomplete financial records to his tax preparers, resulting in inaccurate tax returns filed with the state Department of Revenue.

“From these false figures, Brito then took deductions and substantially underreported his business income on his personal income tax returns filed with the Department of Revenue,” prosecutors wrote in court documents, cited by The Boston Globe.

On Feb. 4, State Police detectives, assisted by Department of Revenue and FBI agents, executed search warrants at a Woburn home and the Medford business. Authorities said they recovered around $35,000 in cash, along with documents and electronic devices.

According to the company’s website, Brito founded Boston Quality Cleaning Services at 1 Shipyard Way in 2002 after working as an office cleaner.

Morgan Rousseau is a freelance writer for Boston.com, where she reports on a variety of local and regional news.