New Jersey-based energy company Holtec International will pay a $5 million fine while avoiding criminal prosecution for what authorities describe as a scheme to cheat a state tax incentive program.
The case stems from an application by Holtec in 2018 to the Angel Investor Tax Break Program, which awards credits to companies that invest in emerging technology as an incentive to create more technology business and jobs in the state.
It’s a much smaller program than one that awarded Holtec $260 million in 2014 for building a manufacturing plant in Camden, the second-largest tax break in New Jersey history.
Holtec is one of 13 Camden companies connected to South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross that received large tax breaks during then-Gov. Chris Christie’s administration and were later investigated by a task force commissioned by Gov. Phil Murphy. In 2019, WNYC and ProPublica reported that $1.1 billion worth of tax breaks went to companies tied to Norcross and his brother. Norcross, who had a close working relationship with Christie, is a member of Holtec’s board of directors.
An agreement announced by New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin on Tuesday addresses a far more limited $1 million in combined tax incentives, which Holtec will now forgo. The company must also have an independent reviewer vet any future applications for state benefits.
In exchange for that and the $5 million penalty, Platkin’s office said it won’t prosecute Holtec over the $1 million in incentives. But the agreement leaves open the possibility of pursuing action against the company for other matters.
The attorney general’s office said Holtec agreed to invest $12 million in Eos, a battery-systems company, in July 2018, and then learned about the Angel Investor Tax Break Program that could net it up to $500,000 for investing in emerging energy technologies.
Platkin said Holtec and a real estate company owned by its CEO, Kris Singh, then fraudulently filed for two…
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